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Viruses hijack bacteria that feed on sulphur-spewing vents on the ocean's floor and then reprogram the bacteria's DNA that leaves them devouring more of the chemicals erupting from the vents, a new study has found.

These reprogramed bacteria then burn up their stored sulphur reserves faster creating excess energy that the viruses use to reproduce until the bacteria burst and release a fresh wave of virus particles. 

The study is first to mark the observation of the process in which surface-dwelling viruses take over bacteria that draw their energy from sunlight. 

"Viruses play a cardinal role in biogeochemical processes in the ocean's shallow and mid-to-deeper waters," said David Garrison, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research, according to abc.net.au.

"This study suggests that viruses may have a similar importance in deep-sea thermal vent environments."

The study added that for the bacteria known as SUP05, viruses used a version of bacteria's own genetic code to hijack them. At some time in the evolutionary history of SUP05 and its viral attacker, there may have been an exchange of genes between the two, study's authors suggested.

"We suggest that the viruses serve as a reservoir of genetic diversity that helps shape bacterial evolution," said study co-author University of Michigan marine microbiologist Gregory J Dick.

"There seems to have been an exchange of genes, which implicates the viruses as an agent of evolution. That's interesting from an evolutionary biology standpoint."

The study concluded that viruses hijack bacterial cells and get them to consume elemental sulfur in order to propagate themselves.

The study is published in the journal Science.