Every living organism in the world needs another organism to survive. used up. Those who eat grass are herbivores, those who eat meat are carnivores, those who eat both omnivore we say. Scientists have discovered an organism that has a different dietary habit than these diets.

This new organism that scientists discovered, viruses is fed with. Since viruses are ubiquitous, many organisms inevitably feed on viruses, but this organism simply selects and feeds on viruses.

This virus-eating ‘virovor’ organism is called ‘Halteria’

Halteria Cilia

In fact, ordinary planktonic acid occurs in many freshwater environments. cilia One genus, Halteria, has been in the literature for a long time, but only recently has it been discovered that this organism feeds only on viruses. A researcher at the University of Nebraska who has completed the testing phase. John Delong executed.

To test the hypothesis, DeLong and his team collected samples of pond water, isolated several microbes, and then a freshwater organism that infects green algae. of chlorine virus added a lot. Over the next few days, the team tracked the population size of viruses and other microbes, tracking the first of the second. did you eat or not he saw.

As a result of the experiment, the ciliary, known as Halteria, consumed the viruses. In water samples with no other food source for the ciliates, the Halteria population increased approximately 15-fold within two days, while chlorovirus levels up to 100 times fell. No Halteria grew in virus-free control samples.

From here the specificity of Halteria cilia feeds on viruses understood. What this could mean is still a subject of research for scientists, but the first thing that comes to mind is, “Can Halteria cilia be used to treat viral diseases?” brings the question.