Syntrophy

Syntrophy, Synthrophy, Cross-feeding, or Cross feeding [Greek syn meaning together, trophe meaning nourishment] is the phenomenon that one species lives off the products of another species. In this association the growth of one partner is improved or depends on the nutrients, growth factors or substrate provided by the other partner. This term for nutritional interdependence is often used in microbiology to describe this symbiotic relationship between some bacterial species.