Predation by microbes is one of the main drivers of bacterial mortality in the environment. In most ecosystems multiple micropredators compete at least partially for the same bacterial resource. Predatory interactions between these micropredators might lead to shifts within microbial communities. Integrating these interactions is therefore crucial for the understanding of ecosystem functioning. In this study, we investigated the predation between two groups of micropredators, i.e. phagotrophic protists and Bdellovibrio and like organisms (BALOs). BALOs are obligate predators of Gram-negative bacteria. We hypothesised that protists can prey upon BALOs despite the small size and high swimming speed of the latter, which makes them potentially hard to capture. Predation experiments including three protists, i.e. one filter feeder and two interception feeder, showed that BALOs are a relevant prey for these protists. The growth rate on BALOs differed for the respective protists. The filter feeding ciliate was growing equally well on the BALOs and on Escherichia coli, whereas the two flagellate species grew less well on the BALOs compared to E. coli. However, BALOs might not be a favourable food source in resource-rich environments as they are not enabling all protists to grow as much as on bacteria of bigger volume.

Julia Johnke

Jens Boenigk

Hauke Harms

Antonis Chatzinotas

FEMS Microbiology Letters

FEMS MICROBIOLOGY LETTERS 优先考虑因其原创性、普遍兴趣和对微生物学新发展的贡献而值得快速发表的简洁论文。涵盖了微生物学的所有方面，包括病毒学。 2019年影响因子：1.987，JOURNAL CITATION REPORTS（来源科睿唯安，2020）排名：98/135（微生物学）该杂志分为八个版块：生理学和生物化学（包括遗传学、分子生物学和‘组学’研究）食品微生物学（来自食品生产和生物技术以防止腐败和食源性病原体）生物技术和合成生物学病原体和病原体（包括医学、兽医、植物和昆虫病原体——特别是与食品安全相关的病原体——病毒除外）环境微生物学（包括生态生理学、生态基因组学和元-组学研究）病毒学（感染任何生物体的病毒，包括细菌和古生菌）分类学和系统学（用于出版新的分类群、分类学重新分类和分类学性质的评论）专业发展（包括教育、培训、CPD、研究评估框架、研究和出版指标、最佳实践、职业和微生物学历史）如果你是不确定哪个部分最适合您的手稿，例如在跨学科研究的情况下，我们建议您在提交前通过电子邮件联系主编。我们的范围包括任何类型的微生物——细菌和古细菌的所有成员以及真核生物的微生物成员（酵母、丝状真菌、微生物藻类、原生动物、卵菌、粘菌等）以及所有病毒。

FEMS Microbiology Letters prioritizes concise papers that are worthy of rapid publication due to their originality, broad interest, and contributions to new developments in microbiology. The journal covers all aspects of microbiology, including virology. The impact factor for 2019 was 1.987, and it ranked 98/135 in microbiology according to the JOURNAL CITATION REPORTS (source: Clarivate, 2020). The journal is divided into eight sections: Physiology and Biochemistry (including genetics, molecular biology, and 'omics' studies), Food Microbiology (related to food production and biotechnology to prevent spoilage and foodborne pathogens), Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology, Pathogens and Pathogenics (including medical, veterinary, plant, and insect pathogens, particularly those related to food safety, excluding viruses), Environmental Microbiology (including ecological physiology, ecological genomics, and meta-omics studies), Virology (viruses infecting any living organism, including bacteria and archaea), Taxonomy and Systematics (for publishing new taxa, taxonomic reclassifications, and reviews on taxonomic properties), and Professional Development (including education, training, CPD, research assessment frameworks, research and publication metrics, best practices, career development, and the history of microbiology). If you are unsure which section is most suitable for your manuscript, especially in the case of interdisciplinary research, we recommend contacting the editor-in-chief via email before submission. Our scope includes any type of microorganism—members of both bacteria and archaea, as well as microbial members of eukaryotes (yeasts, filamentous fungi, microalgae, protozoa, slime molds, etc.) and all viruses.

FEMS Microbiology Letters 优先考虑那些因其原创性、普遍兴趣和对微生物学新发展的贡献而值得快速发表的简洁论文。该期刊涵盖微生物学的所有领域，包括病毒学。2019年影响因子为1.987，JOURNAL CITATION REPORTS（来源于科睿唯安，2020）排名：98/135（微生物学）。期刊分为八个部分：生理学和生物化学（包括遗传学、分子生物学和组学研究）、食品微生物学（涉及食品生产和生物技术，以防止腐败和食源性病原体）、生物技术和合成生物学、病原体和病原体（包括医学、兽医、植物和昆虫病原体，特别是与食品安全相关的病原体，病毒除外）、环境微生物学（包括生态生理学、生态基因组学和元组学研究）、病毒学（感染任何生物体的病毒，包括细菌和古生菌）、分类学和系统学（用于发布新的分类群、分类学重新分类和分类学性质的评论）、专业发展（包括教育、培训、持续专业发展、研究评估框架、研究和出版指标、最佳实践、职业发展和微生物学历史）。如果您不确定哪个部分最适合您的手稿，特别是在跨学科研究的情况下，我们建议您在提交前通过电子邮件联系主编。我们的范围包括任何类型的微生物——细菌和古细菌的所有成员，以及真核生物的微生物成员（如酵母、丝状真菌、微藻、原生动物、卵菌、粘菌等）以及所有病毒。

Killing the killer: predation between protists and predatory bacteria

Investigation of the predation between two groups of micropredators, i.e. phagotrophic protists and Bdellovibrio and like organisms, showed that BALOs are a relevant prey for these protists.

Category	Quartile
生物学	4
生物学, 微生物学	4

Killing the killer: predation between protists and predatory bacteria

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