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These parasitic bacteria are called pleomorphic (many hapes) or L-form (named for the Lister Institute where they were discovered) or Cell Wall Deficient (CWD) or cell wall divergent or cell-wall defective or large bodies or cryptic or nanobacteria. Coccoid (spherical) is a term that refers to these elemental forms. Cysts or colonies of these tiny L-forms can be enclosed within a protein shell


These bacteria are about 0.01 microns in diameter, smaller than any known viral or fungal particle. They are the smallest identified bacterial forms and are too small to be seen with normal optical microscopes. There are at least 53 identified species of L-form (little and large) bacteria

He first became interested in the role of atypical bacterial forms after noting that a large number of patients with urinary tract infections suffer from continual relapsing illness. Using a direct phase microscope, he examined the urine specimens of several patients with urinary tract infections and found L-form bacteria in his sample.

He began to investigate L-form bacteria, striving to better understand their biology and the role they play in causing disease. Over the course of the next 30 years, he was able to explain much of the mystery behind how the bacteria are able to persist in the body, and published a wide array of clinical and experimental studies on the subject.

Domingue worked with a team that included pre and post doctoral students and fellows along with faculty colleagues and laboratory assistants. Together they discovered that L-form bacteria are able to form tiny dense bodies within parent cells that already lack cell walls. They noted that the forms, which they called electron dense bodies were so small that they could pass through bacterial filters that normally withheld ordinary bacteria with cell walls.