MIT researchers have discovered that certain photosynthetic ocean bacteria such as Prochlorococcus etc are conned by viruses into working for them. These viruses carry genetic material taken from their previous bacterial hosts that tricks the new host into using its own machinery to activate the genes.
The con occurs when a virus injects its DNA into a bacterium living in a phosphorus-starved region of the ocean. Such bacteria stressed by the lack of phosphorus- which they use as a nutrient-have their phosphorus gathering machinery in high gear. The virus senses the host's stress and offers what seems like a helping hand : bacterial genes nearly identical to the host's own that enable the host to gather more phosphorus. The host uses those genes but the additional phosphorus goes primarily towards supporting the virus's replication of its own DNA. Once that process is complete, about 10 hours after the infection, the virus explodes its host releasing progeny viruses back into the ocean where they can invade other bacteria and repeat the process. The additional phosphorus gathering gene provided by the virus keeps its reproductive cycle on schedule.
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