Plants use light energy from the sun for photosynthesis to turn carbon dioxide (CO2) into biomass. Animals can't do that. Therefore, some of them have teamed up with bacteria that carry out a process called chemosynthesis. It works almost like photosynthesis, only that it uses chemical energy instead of light energy. Many animals rely on chemosynthetic bacteria to supply them with food. The symbionts turn CO2 into biomass and are subsequently digested by their host. Kentron, a bacterium nourishing the ciliate Kentrophoros, was thought to be 'just another' chemosynthetic symbiont. However, recent results indicate that it is not.
* This article was originally published here
