virovory
Sign in to saveAlso known as virovore, virivory, virivore
Virivore (equivalently virovore) comes from the English prefix viro- meaning virus, derived from the Latin word for poison, and the suffix -vore from the Latin word vorare, meaning to eat, or to devour; therefore, a virivore is an organism that consumes viruses. Virivory is a well-described process in which organisms, primarily heterotrophic protists, consume viruses, though some metazoans are known to do so, as well.
~16 min read
Encyclopedic overview
14 sectionsContents
- Discovery
- Biogeochemical impact
- The viral sweep
- Viral grazing
- Filter feeding
- Grazing on sediment particles
- Raptorial feeding
- Selective grazing
- Impact of viral infection on grazing
- Ecological significance
- Mode of transmission
- Non-host organisms
- References
- Further reading
Virivore (equivalently virovore) comes from the English prefix viro- meaning virus, derived from the Latin word for poison, and the suffix -vore from the Latin word vorare, meaning to eat, or to devour; therefore, a virivore is an organism that consumes viruses. Virivory is a well-described process in which organisms, primarily heterotrophic protists, consume viruses, though some metazoans are known to do so, as well.
Viruses are considered a top predator in marine environments, as they can lyse microbes and release nutrients (i.e. the viral shunt). Viruses also play an important role in the structuring of microbial trophic relationships and regulation of carbon flow.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “virovory” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.