Bacterial predators
Abstract
What are bacterial predators? Alfred Tennyson's oft-quoted phrase "nature red in tooth and claw" starkly reminds us of the prevalence with which some animals hunt, grab, tear, kill, dismember and eat other animals. Unbeknownst to the great poet, his word craft also figuratively alludes to predatory violence amongst unseen microbes. (Although "nature slimy in adhesin and lysin" more literally describes predation by bacteria, it doesn't quite pass poetic muster.) Despite some debate about the semantics of bacterial predation, here we shall consider as predators any bacteria that kill other microbes and consume them as a nutritional resource.
- Publication:
-
Current Biology
- Pub Date:
- 2009
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 2009CBio...19..R55V