The transcriptome of Bathymodiolus azoricus gill reveals expression of genes from endosymbionts and free-living deep-sea bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Deep-sea environments are largely unexplored habitats where a surprising number of species may be found in large communities, thriving regardless of the darkness, extreme cold, and high pressure. Their unique geochemical features result in reducing environments rich in methane and sulfides, sustaining complex chemosynthetic ecosystems that represent one of the most surprising findings in oceans in the last 40 years. The deep-sea Lucky Strike hydrothermal vent field, located in the Mid Atlantic Ridge, is home to large vent mussel communities where Bathymodiolus azoricus represents the dominant faunal biomass, owing its survival to symbiotic associations with methylotrophic or methanotrophic and thiotrophic bacteria. The recent transcriptome sequencing and analysis of gill tissues from B. az

SUBMITTER: Egas C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3447338 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature