Horizontal endosymbiont transmission in hydrothermal vent tubeworms
Nussbaumer, A.D.; Fisher, C.R.; Bright, M. (2006). Horizontal endosymbiont transmission in hydrothermal vent tubeworms. Nature (Lond.) 441(7091): 345-348
In: Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science. Nature Publishing Group: London. ISSN 0028-0836; e-ISSN 1476-4687, more
| |
Authors | | Top |
- Nussbaumer, A.D.
- Fisher, C.R.
- Bright, M.
|
|
|
Abstract |
Transmission of obligate bacterial symbionts between generations is vital for the survival of the host. Although the larvae of certain hydrothermal vent tubeworms (Vestimentifera, Siboglinidae) are symbiont-free and possess a transient digestive system, these structures are lost during development, resulting in adult animals that are nutritionally dependent on their bacterial symbionts. Thus, each generation of tubeworms must be newly colonizedwith its specific symbiont. Here we present a model for tubeworm symbiont acquisition and the development of the symbionthousing organ, the trophosome. Our data indicate that the bacterial symbionts colonize the developing tube of the settled larvae and enter the host through the skin, a process that continues through the early juvenile stages during which the trophosome is established from mesodermal tissue. In later juvenile stages we observed massive apoptosis of host epidermis, muscles and undifferentiatedmesodermal tissue, whichwas coincident with the cessation of the colonization process. Characterizing the symbiont transmission process in this finely tuned mutualistic symbiosis provides another model of symbiont acquisition and additional insights into underlying mechanisms common to both pathogenic infections and beneficial host-symbiont interactions. |
|