The war between rotifers and fungi...

An article entitled: "Extraordinary Multi-Organismal Interactions Involving Bacteriophages, Bacteria, Fungi, and Rotifers: Quadruple Microbial Trophic Network in Water Droplets" (published in the International Journal of Molecular), presenting the results of research that a team of scientists from the Faculty of Biology of the University of Gdańsk led by prof. Grzegorz Węgrzyn conducted together with scientists from the Jagiellonian University was commented in "Science" - one of the most prestigious journals in the world.

- 'Our article shows a network of relationships between microorganisms that no one has shown before. Namely, there are filamentous fungi that prey on tiny animals called rotifers. The way they do this is that they produce traps that contain a sweet substance that lures the rotifers in, and when the animals get close, the fungi grab them and suck the organic compounds out of them. But for the fungi to do this, they need to cooperate with bacteria, which penetrate the fungus' filaments and produce substances that immobilise the rotifer and digest its cuticle. However, for the bacteria to do this, they must be infected by viruses (bacteriophages) that carry the genes for these enzymes that act on the rotifers. It is true that when these viruses (bacteriophages) become active, the bacteria die, but bacteriophage activation occurs only in some cells in the bacterial population, so the remaining bacteria benefit from the production of these enzymes, because the rotifers are immobilised and killed, and then the bacteria and fungi have a feast,' explains Prof. Grzegorz Węgrzyn. - 'In Science, they wrote that this is much better than human guerrilla warfare and any other military paper chases,' he adds.

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MNG/Press Office of University of Gdańsk