Our paper on bacterial ixotrophy published in Science

How do microbes survive and thrive in heterogeneous environments where nutrient concentrations fluctuate in space and time? In collaboration with Martin Pilhofer’s group at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics at ETH Zurich, we investigated the molecular mechanisms of ixotrophy, a contact-dependent, facultative bacterial predatory strategy. The Stocker group contributed by measuring the prey components assimilated by the attacker using stable isotope probing and Raman microspectroscopy. This study reveals that ixotrophy may play an overlooked yet crucial role in enabling bacteria to access nutrients in complex and dynamic aquatic environments. More here.