Amoebae, single-celled organisms without a solid form, receive surprising support in their defense against viruses: bacteria they are infected with protect them from destruction by giant viruses. If the amoebae are also infected with chlamydia bacteria, that is their salvation, as the Viennese microbe researchers Patrick Arthofer and Matthias Horn have now discovered.
If amoebae are infected with “Viennaviruses”, they usually die shortly afterwards. The invaders turn the protozoa into “factories” that produce new viruses until the infected amoeba bursts. However, if they are infected with chlamydia, they prevent the formation of those virus factories, the scientists write in the journal PNAS.
Chlamydia as a quite useful partner
“Because a chlamydia infection leads to slower growth of the host cells, these bacteria are widely regarded as harmful parasites,” said the researchers from the Center for Microbiology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Vienna. In contrast, their research would show that the smaller chlamydia are more useful partners (mutualists) for the larger amoebae, protecting them from an otherwise deadly course of the giant virus infection. “Growing slower is better than dying,” says Arthofer.
“The presence of chlamydia in the amoebae does not prevent viruses from being absorbed,” says Horn: “But the viruses cannot then form a functioning virus factory.”
Bacteria attack food webs
Whether the amoebae die or survive due to the Vienna virus, which belongs to the Marseille virus family, is not only relevant for the microbes themselves, the researchers explain: if the amoebae are killed by the virus, the nutrients that are released can only used by bacteria. However, “in general” the amoebae are a food source for small animals. “The bacterial mutualists can therefore influence the entire food cycle in ecosystems,” says Arthofer.
Source: Krone
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