I think from the article the viruses don’t target the ciliates at all but rather algae. That explains (a). I expect b and c are answerable with gradients and me

I think from the article the viruses don’t target the ciliates at all but rather algae. That explains (a). I expect b and c are answerable with gradients and membrane mumbojumbo, but a programmer not a microbiologist. I actually like the study author am surprised that this hasn’t been observed before. I would have expected viruses are food for something - as it notes they’re little bundles of tasty proteins and useful elements.