The “vampire” bacterium Micavibrio aeruginosavorus (yellow), leeched to and sucking nutrients from a Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium (purple), surrounded by dead P. aeruginosa (gray) cells.
According to research at the University of Virginia, this impressive vampire-like bacteria could serve as a powerful natural antibiotic amidst rapidly evolving drug-resistant bacterial diseases such as tuberculosis. Micavibrio aeruginosavorus is unique in that it can survive entirely on a “diet” of certain bacteria, rather than drawing nutrients from its environment. The bacteria is also “so selective a feeder, it is harmless to the thousands of beneficial bacteria that dwell in the general environment and in the human body.”
Photo Credit: University of Virginia
