If green algae of the species Chlamydomonas reinhardtii meet Pseudomonas protegens bacteria, their fate is sealed. The bacteria, measuring only some two micrometres, surround the algae, which are around five times larger, and attack them with a deadly toxic cocktail. The algae lose their flagella, which renders them immobile. The green single-celled organisms then become deformed and are no longer able to proliferate. The chemical mechanism underlying this extremely effective attack has now been uncovered by botanists and natural product chemists at Friedrich Schiller University, Jena (FSU) and the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute (HKI).