Alvinella Pompejana Is an Endemic Inhabitant Tof Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents Located from 21°N to 32°S Latitude on the East Pacific Rise (1)
Metagenome analysis of an extreme microbial symbiosis reveals eurythermal adaptation and metabolic flexibility Joseph J. Grzymskia,1, Alison E. Murraya,1, Barbara J. Campbellb, Mihailo Kaplarevicc, Guang R. Gaoc,d, Charles Leee, Roy Daniele, Amir Ghadirif, Robert A. Feldmanf, and Stephen C. Caryb,d,2 aDivision of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, NV 89512; bCollege of Marine and Earth Studies, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE 19958; cDelaware Biotechnology Institute, 15 Innovation Way, Newark, DE 19702; dElectrical and Computer Engineering, University of Delaware, 140 Evans Hall, Newark, DE 19716; eDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand; fSymBio Corporation, 1455 Adams Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025 Edited by George N. Somero, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, and approved September 17, 2008 (received for review March 20, 2008) Hydrothermal vent ecosystems support diverse life forms, many of the thermal tolerance of a structural protein biomarker (5) which rely on symbiotic associations to perform functions integral supports the assertion that A. pompejana is likely among the to survival in these extreme physicochemical environments. Epsi- most thermotolerant and eurythermal metazoans on Earth lonproteobacteria, found free-living and in intimate associations (6, 7). with vent invertebrates, are the predominant vent-associated A. pompejana is characterized by a filamentous microflora that microorganisms. The vent-associated polychaete worm, Alvinella forms cohesive hair-like projections from mucous glands lining pompejana, is host to a visibly dense fleece of episymbionts on its the polychaete’s dorsal intersegmentary spaces (8). The episym- dorsal surface. The episymbionts are a multispecies consortium of biont community is constrained to the bacterial subdivision, Epsilonproteobacteria present as a biofilm.
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