Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus (original) (raw)

Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus is a 0.6 µm pleomorphic cocci with a gram negative cell wall, and is one of the few known predatory bacteria. Unlike many bacteria, Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus is an obligate parasite, attaching to the cell wall of green algae of the genus Chlorella. Vampirovibrio originates from the Serbian vampir (Cyrillic: вампир). meaning vampire (due to the nature of sucking out cellular contents of its prey) and vibrio referring to the bacterial genus of curved rod bacterium. Chlorellavorus is named for the algal host of the bacterium (Chlorella) and the Latin voro meaning "to devour" (Chlorella-devouring).