Article by Mufaddal Dewaswala
When we hear the word ‘vampire’ we usually
think about ‘blood sucking’ or ‘twilight’.
Well you may be partially right. The organism Vampirococcus is a predatory bacterium, which feeds upon cytoplasm of
phototrophic bacteria such as Chromatium.
It is a Gram negative organism. Vampirococcus attaches itself to the
membrane of the host and reproduces by ‘sucking’ the innards of its prey. Vampirococcus can not replicate via fission unless it’s attached to a prey cell. The organism
is an epibiont.
[Epibiont means an organism that lives on the surface
of another living organism, in this case the cell membrane]
Some more information; Source: Fresh water,
Morphology: Oviodal, Response to oxygen: Anaerobe.
Reference:
Guerrero, Richard. “Predatory Prokaryotes: Predation and Primary Consumption
Evolved in Bacteria.” 20 Feb 2009.
