First Compelling Evidence of Organisms That Eat Viruses as a Food Source

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

First Compelling Evidence of Organisms That Eat Viruses as a Food Source:

Given the fact that the viral biomass dusting our landscape, drifting through the atmosphere, and floating in our oceans could easily add up to tens of millions of tonnes of carbon, there's a surprising absence of life making a meal of this bounty.

If we're to be technical, there are viruses that have evolved to compete with other viruses by robbing them of their organic building blocks.

But until now, there hasn't been any strong evidence of an organism engulfing and digesting virion particles for energy or their elemental nutrients.

Two types of single-celled organisms found drifting in the waters of the Gulf of Maine off North America's coast just might be the first true virophages known to science.

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