Ciliate Halteria can grow on a diet of chloroviruses

University of Nebraska-Lincoln authors show that small protists can consume viruses and grow and divide given only viruses to eat; the ciliate Halteria sp. foraging on chloroviruses shows dynamics similar to other microbial trophic interactions. They suggest virus consumption redirects energy up food chains beyond the viral shunt (PNAS, 2023). A virus-ecology finding; the viruses studied were chloroviruses.