Some ‘friendly’ bacteria backstab their algal pals. Now we know why
The finding could help explain why some massive algal blooms end
Round Emiliania huxleyi cells live with smaller rodlike bacteria, exchanging nutrients and vitamins, until the single-celled algae get too old. Then, the bacteria kill and eat them — a fate that befell the E. huxleyi cell in the middle bottom of this scanning electron microscope image.
N. Barak-Gavish et al/Science Advances 2018