10 min listen
451: Phototrophs Fancy Floating Feasts
FromBacterioFiles
ratings:
Length:
7 minutes
Released:
Apr 19, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
This episode: Despite being photosynthetic, some kinds of algae engage in predatory behavior, hunting and consuming live bacteria! Download Episode (4.9 MB, 7.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus 1 News item Takeaways Although most of them are microscopic, algae perform a significant portion of the photosynthesis on the planet, because there are so many of them. But even though photosynthesis seems like a reliable way of acquiring energy, there are conditions under which even algae benefit from gathering energy and nutrients from other organisms. This is called phagomixotrophy, when algae hunt and consume bacteria. In this study, scientists developed fluorescence methods for detecting and studying this predation in a group of algal phytoplankton that's not well-studied, prasinophytes. They found that all five species they looked at engaged in bacterivory under nutrient-depleted conditions, and that they preferred live bacteria to killed ones. Journal Paper: Bock NA, Charvet S, Burns J, Gyaltshen Y, Rozenberg A, Duhamel S, Kim E. 2021. Experimental identification and in silico prediction of bacterivory in green algae. ISME J. Other interesting stories: Fecal microbe transplant seems to help mice recover from spinal cord injury (paper) Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.
Released:
Apr 19, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (97)
391: Slime Stores Sodium Sensibility: This episode: Slime molds can learn to get used to salt and hold on to that memory even after a period of dormancy! (8.9 MB, 9.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Nocardia transvalensis Takeaways Slime mold Physarum polycephalum... by BacterioFiles