A bacterium switches from prey to predator when it gets cold

Life

Growing up at a different temperature seems to transform common prey bacteria into predators, suggesting that bacterial ecology is more fluid than we thought

By Christie Taylor

Myxococcus xanthus bacteria typically feed on other microbes. Then one of their traditional prey turned on them

EYE OF SCIENCE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Two species of bacteria appear to reverse which is predator and which is prey depending on the temperature. Just a small temperature change is enough to cause the switch.

The soil bacteria Myxococcus xanthus is a social species that hunts in packs – it forms temporary, multicellular “swarms” of individuals that chemically tear apart and soak up nutrients from other microbes. And its prey includes Pseudomonas fluorescens, a bacterium common in both soil and water.…

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