According to a new research, bacteria that are formed completely of one cell are capable of seeing. The bacterium utilizes its entire body as a tiny camera lens to concentrate on light. The sense of vision possessed by the bacteria is not vague; in fact, it can accurately detect the right location.

According to Conrad Mullineaux of the University of Freiburg in Germany and Queen Mary University of London, the whole thought of bacteria seeing their world in the same manner in which we do is quite stimulating.

A species belonging to cynobacteria family was examined by Mullineaux, along with an international team of colleagues. These bacteria create a green slime on the rocks that are in and around the water. It has been known that these bacteria gain energy through the process of photosynthesis and proceed towards or in the opposite direction of light. The study involved examining these microbes on a microscopic level, using shining lasers, observing their behavior, along with calculating the light sensitivity of the bacteria.

The bacteria were discovered to be discriminating. "Whenever one edge of a cell encountered the edge of the laser spot, the cell changed direction to move away from the laser illumination," according to the team. They added that spherical cyanobacteria might be the smallest and oldest example of a camera eye in the world.

The team found that the organism is capable of focusing on light in a similar way a human eye focuses. However, the image is likely to be much more distorted that that seen by a human eye.

Mullineaux stated that though the bacteria have proved to be optical objects through their observations, the thought never crossed anyone’s mind till the time it was seen. He added that such a big thing went unnoticed, though the researchers started studying the bacteria under microscopes 340 years ago.