Skylar HopkinsJan 2, 2023
Corey S Powell
Researchers have discovered the first known "virovore," an organism that feeds on viruses. Probably there are many others like it -- an entire, previously unknown food chain.
One day into 2023, and already things are going topsy turvy.
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/975344 #ecology #life
Eating viruses can power growth, reproduction of microorganism

In a turnabout worthy of Pac-Man, University of Nebraska–Lincoln researchers have found that microscopic ciliates 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.

EurekAlert!
Jan 1, 2023 at 11:27pmMastodon Twitter Crossposter
Show threadCorey S PowellJan 1, 2023

It takes a keen eye to spot a microbe grazing on some viruses! Biologist John DeLong & his colleagues tagged the viruses with a fluorescent glow to see if anything was eating them.

Sure enough, it turns out that several different types of microbes appear to be snacking on viruses.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2215000120

#life #biology #ecology

Show threadBenJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell This makes my inner microbiologist so happy
Show threadJohn GordonJan 2, 2023

@coreyspowell I thought I'd read of viruses snacking on viruses but I don't recall reading this before. So, yeah, sounds new. I wonder how many people were looking for this.

Must be energy tied up in those Virus molecules. I wonder how they are metabolized ...

Sort of like whales eating plankton.

Show threadCatEyeJayneJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell Can it eat COVID?
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Jan 3, 2023
@666k9s @coreyspowell this was my first thought, surely something that can be tweaked and added to our gut flora?
Show threadCorey S PowellJan 2, 2023

A general rule of life: Everything gets eaten by something.

If you are alive, you are a potential meal.

Show threadPēteris KrišjānisJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell for black hole? 👀
Show threadf*cking b*tch clubJan 2, 2023

@coreyspowell
Next up: “inject yourself with my virus-eating Miracle Cure*™️! Better than vax**, only $49.95 per microdose”

*(not approved by the FDA or the CDC)
** (what could possibly go wrong)

Show threadKausikJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell I think this is a comforting thought.
Show threadCorey S PowellJan 2, 2023
@SciWriDreams The ouroboros of life.
Show threadKausikJan 7, 2023
@coreyspowell I sometimes wonder if eating its own tail gives it hyperacidity or gas.
Show threadtoxtethogradyJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell Think it likes the taste of Covid variants?
Show threadCorey S PowellJan 2, 2023

@toxtethogrady Train the protists to develop a taste for Covid. Sounds like the beginning of a good SF horror story.

What could possibly go wrong??

Show threadJonyaPJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell Thanks for sharing. Very interesting
Show threadAnnie Fink-NottleJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell I'm clearly very tired. I read that as "an organism that feeds on virtues"
Show threadPēteris KrišjānisJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell could it be that thanks to these beings mammals and other higher animals are not regularly wiped out by pandemic? Much excite.
Show threadmiro_klarinJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell nature is already in balance, we find answers only when we are mature enough to ask good questions
Show threadBen CrowellJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell Cool! I wonder how the critter keeps from being harmed by the viruses.
There are also bacteriophages, which are viruses that eat bacteria. They were used therapeutically at one time, especially in Russia, and were a plot point in the Sinclair Lewis novel Arrowsmith.
Show threaderidiumJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell wow. I'm really curious to see how this effects medicine and viral treatment, maybe even cleaning supplies etc? Super neat. Thanks for sharing.
Show threadshinosarnaJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell Could these be potentially used as antiviral treatments?
Show threadBill WasleyJan 2, 2023

@coreyspowell

Not my field of expertise, but would seem a promising avenue to pursue.

Show threadJohn SamuelJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell That brings to the next interesting question: who will feed on these "virovores"?
Show threadnerdetteJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell very cool!
Show threadMichael SlatteryJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell First "did not have that on my bingo card" for 2023
Show threadDarrin NightingaleJan 2, 2023
@coreyspowell When I read something like this, my imagination invariably goes to thoughts of apocalypse. I think of genetically modified ciliates in a vaccine. Once in your system they start to feed on your body, consuming you from the inside, creating a biological grey goo that sweeps over the Earth, eating everything in its path.
Show threadElysia MachtJan 3, 2023

@coreyspowell Oh to still have Twtr's speedy access to gifs.

This is calling for the old 'Frankenstein's monster (or creature) with his arms stretched out' one with the text "Friend" on it.

Frieeeend. #Fren, Friend Shaped & all that.

Show threadAshsmashbgashJan 3, 2023
@ElysiaMacht @coreyspowell omg were you going to send that to me?! Jk
Show threadElysia MachtJan 3, 2023

@ashsmashbgash Oh no no no, I'm very picky about what I go "Freeeeen" at. ;P Humans usually don't qualify, whereas the oddest looking creatures, monsters or things might. It helps if things have scales, tentacles & the sort.

I'm a big fan of Daleks from Doctor Who. They're very universally lethal= incredibly fren-shaped beings to me automatically thus then. 🐙

I'm voted most likely to get killed hugging monsters & villains.

If you know Agnes from Despicable Me, I'm her with her "Ooh, puppy!"

Show threadBuster McNuttJan 3, 2023

@coreyspowell

Inject ourselves with virovores then, got it.

Show threadmmsood99Jan 3, 2023
@coreyspowell Fascinating. Once we understand the mechanism, it opens an entirely new field of antiviral research.
Show threadIan K TindaleJan 3, 2023
@coreyspowell does it shit vaccines?
Show threadHobson LaneJan 4, 2023

@coreyspowell what an awesome #AntiMalware company, product, or #DomainName

#cybersecurity

Show threadSean GonsalvesJan 10, 2023
@coreyspowell fascinating … and dare I say hopeful