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Chytrid fungal parasites convert dietary energy and essential dietary molecules, such as long-chain (LC) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), from inedible algal/cyanobacteria hosts into edible zoospores. How the improved biochemical PUFA composition of chytrid-infected diet may extend to zooplankton, linking diet quality to consumer fitness, remains unexplored.Here, we assessed the trophic role of chytrids in supporting dietary energy and PUFA requirements of the crustacean zooplankton , when feeding on the filamentous cyanobacterium .Only feeding on chytrid-infected reproduced successfully and had significantly higher survival and growth rates compared with feeding on the sole diet. While the presence of chytrids resulted in a two-fold increase of carbon ingested by , carbon assimilation increased by a factor of four, clearly indicating enhanced carbon transfer efficiency with chytrid presence.Bulk carbon ( C) and nitrogen ( N) stable isotopes did not indicate any treatment-specific dietary effects on , nor differences in trophic position among diet sources and the consumer. Compound-specific carbon isotopes of fatty acids ( C), however, revealed that chytrids bioconverted short-chain to LC-PUFA, making it available for Chytrids synthesised the ω-3 PUFA stearidonic acid , which was selectively retained by . Values of C demonstrated that also bioconverted short-chain to LC-PUFA.We provide isotopic evidence that chytrids improved the dietary provision of LC-PUFA for and enhanced their fitness. We argue for the existence of a positive feedback loop between enhanced growth and herbivory in response to chytrid-mediated improved diet quality. Chytrids upgrade carbon from the primary producer and facilitate energy and PUFA transfer to primary consumers, potentially also benefitting upper trophic levels of pelagic food webs.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10099718PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/fwb.14010DOI Listing

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