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Published May 2004 | Published
Journal Article Open

Novel Forms of Structural Integration between Microbes and a Hydrothermal Vent Gastropod from the Indian Ocean

Abstract

Here we describe novel forms of structural integration between endo- and episymbiotic microbes and an unusual new species of snail from hydrothermal vents in the Indian Ocean. The snail houses a dense population of {gamma}-proteobacteria within the cells of its greatly enlarged esophageal gland. This tissue setting differs from that of all other vent mollusks, which harbor sulfur-oxidizing endosymbionts in their gills. The significantly reduced digestive tract, the isotopic signatures of the snail tissues, and the presence of internal bacteria suggest a dependence on chemoautotrophy for nutrition. Most notably, this snail is unique in having a dense coat of mineralized scales covering the sides of its foot, a feature seen in no other living metazoan. The scales are coated with iron sulfides (pyrite and greigite) and heavily colonized by {epsilon}- and {delta}-proteobacteria, likely participating in mineralization of the sclerites. This novel metazoan-microbial collaboration illustrates the great potential of organismal adaptation in chemically and physically challenging deep-sea environments.

Additional Information

© 2004, American Society for Microbiology. Received 30 September 2003/ Accepted 2 February 2004 We thank the scientific party on Knorr leg KN162-13 and the captains and crew of the R.V. Knorr and the R.O.V. Jason. We also thank Todd Walsh for photographic assistance, J. Salerno and S. Bengtson for original transmission and scanning electron micrographs, R. Lee for isotopic measurements, and C. Cavanaugh, A. L. Reysenbach, and R. Popa for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the U.S. National Science Foundation (R.C.V. and C.L.V.D.), and the M. Bergvall Foundation (A.W.).

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