Virovore

Why in News?

• Recently, Researchers have found the first known “Virovore,” or organism that eats viruses. The new findings may change our understanding of the role viruses play in the food chain at a microscopic level

Highlights

• It has been identified as an actual species of protist that feasts on viruses.
• These virus-eating species of protists — which are their own kingdom on the tree of life and are not an animal, plant, or fungi — are now classified as Virovores.
• It Is a species of Halteria – microscopic ciliates that populate freshwater worldwide.
• The microbe Halteria is a common genus of protist known to flit about as its hair-like cilia propel it through the water.
• They’re made up of nucleic acids, nitrogen, and phosphorus. It can eat huge numbers of infectious chloroviruses that share their aquatic habitat.
• Chloroviruses are known to infect microscopic green algae.
• These organisms can sustain themselves with viruses, consuming many and growing in size.
• A virus-only diet, termed “virovory,” is enough to fuel the physiological growth and even population growth of an organism.