#halteria — Public Fediverse posts

#Halteria: #Ciliates These #Freshwater #Microorganisms Can Grow on #Virus-Only Diet https://www.sci.news/biology/halteria-11555.html #protists

The consumption of #viruses returns energy to food chains https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2215000120

Halteria, a genus of microscopic planktonic ciliates that are found in many freshwater environments, can eat huge numbers of infectious #chloroviruses — up to one million viruses per day — that share their aquatic habitat.

First organism that eats viruses (that we've discovered). Really cool video. Makes me wish I had another #microscope. I spent countless hours as a kid examining water from puddles and stock tanks. Got sold in a garage sale when I was in college 😥 #microscopy, #virovore, #protists, #halteria, #AntonPetrov, #science, #biology
https://youtu.be/lq7DaAKIgWI

#covid on the menu coming soon?

#EatViruses #virovore #virovores #virovory

#Halteria #microbe #plankton

https://www.sciencealert.com/an-organism-that-can-dine-exclusively-on-viruses-has-been-found-in-a-world-first

"In a turnabout worthy of Pac-Man, DeLong and his colleagues have found that a species of #Halteria — microscopic ciliates that populate freshwater worldwide — can eat huge numbers of infectious #chloroviruses that share their aquatic habitat. For the first time, the team’s lab experiments have also shown that a virus-only diet, which the team calls “virovory,” is enough to fuel the physiological growth and even population growth of an organism." https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/eating-viruses-can-power-growth-reproduction-of-microorganism/