2013 November 21, u/PsiWavefunction, “Virovory in eukaryotes? Does anything eat viruses, anyway? Hmmmm.”, in Protistology: r/a:t5_2xwqr[1], reddit:
Virovory in eukaryotes? Does anything eat viruses, anyway? Hmmmm.
2022 December 27, John P. DeLong, James L. Van, Zeina Al-Ameeli, David D. Dunigan, “The consumption of viruses returns energy to food chains”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences[2], volume 120, number 1, USA: National Academy of Sciences:
Here, we investigate the potential for virovory to fuel population growth and alter the pathways of energy flow in food webs. We measured the population growth of Halteria sp. and Paramecium bursaria in foraging trials with and without supplemental chloroviruses. We also tracked the reduction in chloroviruses and fit a classic trophic link model to the data to determine whether the Halteria–chlorovirus interaction can be viewed as a trophic interaction. Finally, we used fluorescent microscopy to confirm the ingestion of chloroviruses by ciliates.
2022 December 30, Daily Med Ed, “Surprising Benefits of Virovores: An Organism That Eats Viruses”, in Daily Med Ed[3], San Antonio: Ali Feili MD, MBA:
These results suggest that virovory may play a role in shaping population dynamics and ecosystem functioning. Small protists that consume viruses are themselves consumed by zooplankton, so this viral-derived energy and matter may move up through aquatic food webs, altering their structure and dynamics. Protists represent a large fraction of living biomass and their grazing plays a major role in aquatic food webs, but current models of aquatic food webs and ecosystems do not include the trophic link between viruses and their consumers. This research indicates that current food web models are missing a critical interaction and suggests that this link should be included in future models. Further research is needed to understand the full extent and importance of virovory in aquatic ecosystems.
2023 January 4, Michael Lee, “A virus-only diet can fuel growth in certain microorganisms: study”, in CTV News[4], Canada: CTV:
By eating these viruses through virovory, the researchers suggest that this energy instead moves up the food chain.
