Bengaluru: Viruses, often thought of as predators that feed on and kill their hosts, are nutrition for another group of microscopic, often unicellular organisms called protists. Scientists have now identified an actual species of protist that feasts on viruses HalteriaA ciliate that was observed consuming viruses in pond water samples.
To find out which microbes consume the virus, microbiologists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the United States obtained water samples from the ponds and studied them in a laboratory. their peer-reviewed findings were published In a study in December last year in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Laboratory experiments have shown that these organisms can sustain themselves with viruses, consume many, and grow in size. The extent to which these protists affect food chains and natural ecosystems by exerting evolutionary pressure on viruses remains to be investigated.
It was only two years ago that scientists found Viral genes in the genome of marine protists, indicating that the protist ingested viral material. But direct consumption was not observed until now.
These virus-eating species of protists – which are their own kingdom on the tree of life and are not animals, plants or fungi – Now classified as virovores.
Given that viruses have very little mass and caloric intake as part of larger matter ingested by other organisms, they were thought to be unimportant as a source of food or nutrients for these organisms. But the new findings transform our understanding of the role of viruses in the food chain at the microscopic level.
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Halteria 10,000-10,00,000 virus consumed per day
Microbiologists observed that both ciliates are protists. Halteria And Paramecium bursaria Quantification increased and fold-fold increased, whereas the amount of virus in the sample decreased compared to control samples that were freed from virus.
To confirm their theory that the organisms were feeding on viruses (more precisely, virions), the team stained the DNA of chloroviruses with a fluorescent dye and allowed protist-like paramecium caudatum And uplots Together to “graze” on the virus Halteria,
they found that Halteria 10,000 to 10,00,000 viruses consumed per day, increasing in size. new Halteria The cells also glowed, indicating that the dye contained in the virus particles had been ingested.
Overall, with no other food sources, Halteria The population increased about 15-fold in two days, while the level of the chlorovirus used in the experiment decreased 100-fold. In control samples without virus, Halteria Did not increase
experiments show that Halteria The first is a known virovore, and that ciliated protists may play a major role in allowing viruses to thrive in nature.
More investigation of this phenomenon is expected to reveal how much external pressure the presence of such organisms can exert on viruses and their evolution, and how protists affect food chains in larger systems due to their virulence.
(Editing by Amritansh Arora)
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