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New star-shaped bio-organic nano-entities, named Aster Like Nanoparticle (ALN), have been discovered in aquatic systems by researchers from the Laboratory Microorganisms Genome and Environment (LMGE – CNRS / Clermont Auvergne University) and involving the Center for Integrative Biology of Toulouse (CBI, CNRS / UT3-Paul Sabatier). These pleomorphic entities present characteristics at the borders of the living. Their abundance, sometimes much higher than that of prokaryotes suggest a major ecological role. This discovery, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, contributes to highlighting the diversity and functional importance of femto-plankton (entities between 0.02 and 0.2 μm).