Free-living tube worm endosymbionts found at deep-sea vents.

ABSTRACT: Recent evidence suggests that deep-sea vestimentiferan tube worms acquire their endosymbiotic bacteria from the environment each generation; thus, free-living symbionts should exist. Here, free-living tube worm symbiont phylotypes were detected in vent seawater and in biofilms at multiple deep-sea vent habitats by PCR amplification, DNA sequence analysis, and fluorescence in situ hybridization. These findings support environmental transmission as a means of symbiont acquisition for deep-sea tube worms.

SUBMITTER: Harmer TL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2446571 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature