title: Intracellular coexistence of methano- and thioautotrophic bacteria in a hydrothermal vent mussel.
abstract: The coexistence of two phylogenetically distinct symbiont species within a single cell, a condition not previously known in any metazoan, is demonstrated in the gills of a Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal vent mussel (family Mytilidae). Large and small symbiont morphotypes within the gill bacteriocytes are shown to be separate bacterial species by molecular phylogenetic analysis and fluorescent in situ hybridization. The two symbiont species are affiliated with thioautotrophic and methanotrophic symbionts previously found in monospecific associations with closely related mytilids from deep-sea hydrothermal vents and hydrocarbon seeps.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Distel
authors.forename: H K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Cavanaugh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D049872:Bivalvia / Q000382:microbiology*; D005880:Gills / Q000382:microbiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006091:Gram-Negative Chemolithotrophic Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000648:ultrastructure; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008386:Marine Biology; D008697:Methane / Q000378:metabolism; D008772:Methylococcaceae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics*; D013455:Sulfur / Q000378:metabolism; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D013455:Sulfur; D008697:Methane