In 2004 a Mayo Clinic team led by infectious disease expert, Franklin Cockerill, MD, PhD, John Lieske, MD, and Virginia M. Miller, PhD. at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota reports to have isolated nanobacteria in diseased human arteries and kidney stones. Their results were accepted and published in 2004 and 2006 respectively.[7][8] These findings were confirmed in 2005 by László Puskás, PhD at the DNA Lab, University of Szeged, Hungary. Dr. Puskás identified these particles in cultures obtained from human atherosclerotic aortic walls and blood samples of atherosclerotic patients but the group was unable to detect DNA in these samples.[9] ...
Thanks. I read wiki article from which your above quote is taken. Also there is:
"... "Nanobac Oy" later absorbed in 2003 by a publicly traded Nanobacteria research company in Tampa, Florida founded by Nanobiotic developer Gary Mezo, 'Nanobac Pharmaceuticals, Inc.', to
market medical diagnostic kits for identifying nanobacteria to medical researchers, and are developing prescription medical treatments for calcification-associated diseases. This has raised doubts concerning their impartiality ..."
Likewise, the nano-scale structure NASA thinks may be fossil remains of nanobacteria found in meteroite, ALH 84001, which is believed to be from Mars, I think, are also suspect as NASA needs to justify the millions spent on serch for exta-Earth life forms. Only the Mayo Clinic group is without stong bias towards the existence of any life related process being associated with "nanobacteria" and theyhave never observed any thing clearly indicating they are any aspect of life. All they claim is nano paricle are found is humans et. al. where calcium deposits. Thus I prefer to call them by the name many others do: "Calcifying Nano Particles, CNPs, not nanoBACTERIA, as they have none of the properties of BACTERIA not their size, lack both DNA and RNA, will not replicate - are only "found" basically as small calcium structures, typically as part of larger calcium deposts - Sort of like small quatrz crystals are often found as "inclusions" within larger ones.
Certainly the name "nanoBACTERIA" IS A GROSS DISTORTION of the know facts common to ALL BACTERIA, including the ability to produce at least one specific disease. (Just being found in calcium deposit on arterial walls or in kidney stones, is not evidence that they even cause these aflictions. Until there is some direct evidence that they can at least repilcate, I will call then non-living CNPs.
In contrast consider the Prions. They also have no DNA, very likely no RNA yet they come in various forms that cause specific disease (mad cow disease, and at leas 10 others.) I do not think it is fully know how they replicat, but they do - small inculation will fill the cow´s brain with them in a few months. etc. It is sort a border line case to call either virus or prion a life form, and can go either way with different definition of life; but there is no way that the CNPs should be considered life (unless as is the case with main proponets of that POV you are selling a product related to detecting these dangerous nanobacterial life forms.)
Again:
Certainly the name "nanoBACTERIA" IS A GROSS DISTORTION.
Closely related are:
"Nanobes are tiny filamental structures first found in some rocks and sediments.
Some hypothesize that they are the smallest form of life, 1/10th the size of the smallest known bacteria. Nanobes were discovered in 1996 (published in American Mineralogist, vol 83., 1998) by Philipa Uwins, University of Queensland, Australia.[1] They were found growing from rock samples (both full-diameter and sidewall cores) of Jurassic and Triassic sandstones, originally retrieved from an unspecified number of oil exploration wells off Australia's west coast. Depths of retrieval were between 3400 and 5100m below sea bed. ..."
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanobe
These are about the same size, as I recal, as the long thin "whiskers" that grow on metal tin. I do not want to be "left behind" in the "new life-form movement" so, let me here-by be the first to suggest these "tin whiskers" are a new form of "metalic life."