Archaea can be 'picky eaters': Study shows a group of parasitic microbes can change host metabolism

A parasite that not only feeds off its host, but also makes the host change its own metabolism and thus biology: NIOZ microbiologists Su Ding and Joshua Hamm, Nicole Bale, Jaap Damsté and Anja Spang have shown this for the very first time in a specific group of parasitic microbes called DPANN archaea. Their study, published in Nature Communications, shows that these archaea are very "picky eaters," which might drive their hosts to change the menu.