Microscopic chalk discs in oceans play a key role in Earth's #carbon cycle by propagating #viruses https://phys.org/news/2023-03-microscopic-chalk-discs-oceans-play.html

Adsorptive exchange of coccolith #biominerals facilitates viral infection https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adc8728

Scientists studying armor-plated marine #algae #Emiliania huxleyi have found that the circular, chalk plates the #protists produce can act as catalysts for viral infection, which has vast consequences for trillions of microscopic oceanic creatures and the global #CarbonCycle.

Some ‘friendly’ #bacteria backstab their #algae pals. Now we know why. The finding could help explain why some massive #AlgalBlooms end https://www.sciencenews.org/article/bacteria-algae-phytoplankton-symbiosis-backstab

Bacterial lifestyle switch in response to algal metabolites https://elifesciences.org/articles/84400

"The photosynthesizing #plankton #Emiliania huxleyi has a dramatic relationship with its bacterial frenemies. These duplicitous bugs help E. huxleyi in exchange for nutrients until it becomes more convenient to murder and eat their hosts."

'Friend or foe' #bacteria kill their #algal hosts when #coexisting is no longer beneficial.

#symbiosis #phytoplankton #SulfitobacterD7 #Emiliania #coccolithophore

https://phys.org/news/2023-01-friend-foe-bacteria-algal-hosts.html