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, some clustered around smaller rod-shaped bacteria, consuming them](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/020223_elisecutts_bacteria_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
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