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Fascinating. It seems sensible (to a layman) that something would eat viruses but how would we construct tests (not trolling) to determine: 1. if the Halteria
by gz5 4y ago
Fascinating. It seems sensible (to a layman) that something would eat viruses but how would we construct tests (not trolling) to determine:
1. if the Halteria were not eating something_else, and that something_else was infected by the viruses?
2. if the Halteria themselves were not infected by the viruses?
3. are the Halteria trying to ingest the viruses, or are they just ingesting lots_of_things in the petri dish?
This observation seems interesting, assuming all other variables were constant and there was not some other interplay between the chlorovirus and other microbes which indirectly helped the Halteria grow:
>Halteria deprived of the chlorovirus, meanwhile, wasn’t growing at all.
Finally if the Halteria can ingest it and yet not be 'infected' by it then that seems awfully interesting as well.
- nomel 4y agoMacrophages, like the ones that liv in your mouth, also eat virus: https://askabiologist.asu.edu/macrophage https://askabiologist.asu.edu/macrophage
- d1sxeyes 4y agoI think the use of the word 'eat' is a bit non-specific. Macrophages cannot survive on a diet of virus. They can absolutely 'eat' it in the sense of taking it from outside the cell, breaking it down into constituent components inside the cell, and then putting it back outside the cell as waste, but they can't use viruses as a food source.
- BizarroLand 4y agoI would also wonder if Halteria could be genetically modified to consume PFAs and microplastics in the human body, assuming that our own immune system didn't attack and eliminate them on sight faster than we could replenish them.
- bayesian_horse 4y agoThose viruses infect algae. Halteria aren't algae. Also they multiplied in presence of that virus. So no, they aren't getting infected.
- twic 4y agoThe classic biochemical way to do this would be isotopic labelling. You grow virus host cells in media with funny isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, whatever you like, use those to produce virions, feed the virions to Halteria growing in an isotopically normal environment, wait a while, then collect the Halteria, separate them into their component molecules, and use mass spectrometry to see which ones have funny isotopes in. This doesn't entirely answer all the questions you posed, but it does definitively tell you whether the Halteria are incorporating material from the virions into themselves.
- fnordpiglet 4y agoViruses as I understand it are generally fairly specific as to what they can infect. I don’t think there’s any reason to believe an algae virus infect ciliates. But again, I’m a programmer, not a microbiologist.
- zdragnar 4y agoCross-species infection usually happens (I think) due to mutation, rather than a single strain being able to target vastly different species. However, there are some that do. For example, the Powassan virus. Ticks pick up the virus from woodland mammals, and then transfer it to humans. However, ticks do not transfer the disease from human to human [0]. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powassan_virus https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powassan_virus We are probably much closer to mice and squirrels than algae are to ciliates though.
- stultissimus 4y agoBiophysicist here. Excellent questions – these are the kind of points peer reviewers would raise (though typically in far more esoteric and passive aggressive ways...). (1) could be addressed in experiments where the algae-consumers in question are studied in monoculture (purified and grown in test tubes) with virus added artificially. This experimental design excludes the possibility that any middle man is present; if uptake is still observed, it must be direct. (2) Measure viral replication, perhaps in a similar monoculture experiment as above. If the viruses are infecting (exploiting) the Halteria, they will have non-negligible replication (they are stealing the Halteria's resources to advance their own replication). Viral replication could be assayed by qPCR (counting viral genomes) or similar assays. (3) This would require biochemical studies to determine the mechanism of uptake of viral particles. Typically, viruses are taken up (endocytosed) by cells as a result of interaction with receptors on the surface of target cells (prominently CCR5 in HIV, Ace2 for the COVID-19 causing virus). Of course, what biological systems are `trying` to do begs that we anthromorphize Halteria (or at least evolution), but one could conduct an evolutionary analysis to see if Halteria have progressively evolved receptors that improve viral uptake efficiency. As an aside, the discovery of virovores hints excitingly (albeit remotely) at the possibility of creating virus sink cells/technologies that could eliminate viral particles in humans. An important question will be whether viruses, which evolve far faster than eukaryotes like Halderia (let alone than humans), can turn the tides in the evolutionary arms race and become the exploiters of the Halderia. Perhaps it's reassuring that we exist (mostly) symbiotically with our microbiota, despite their far faster evolution.
- panabee 4y agogreat answers to great questions. 1. the parent raised questions in a neutral way. these questions seem essential for validating experimental design. why would peer reviewers present such questions in passive-aggressive ways, and how can we fix this? 2. could you kindly recommend services/consultancies to validate experimental designs? if not, would you be open to consulting and doing what you did here -- suggesting ways to control for key variables? experiments relate to cancer research. contact info in bio.
- 4y ago