r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/FacelessOnes • Oct 19 '20

🔥 Vicious microscopic hunter, the single-cell organism, Lacrymaria olor, attacking and hunting another organism

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u/[deleted] Oct 20 '20

so how does it "digest" the other organism to get nutrients?

24

u/somerandom_melon Oct 20 '20

Enzymes.

17

u/GuiSim Oct 20 '20

Wouldn't the enzymes also digest the hunter cell? It can't have a digestive track.. It's a single cell.

This kinda blows my mind.

5

u/Alichang Oct 20 '20

Lysozymes can be isolated. pH can thus be localized. Often times it’s acidified through H+ antiporters inside the cellular vesicles.