title: Free-living tube worm endosymbionts found at deep-sea vents.
abstract: Recent evidence suggests that deep-sea vestimentiferan tube worms acquire their endosymbiotic bacteria from the environment each generation; thus, free-living symbionts should exist. Here, free-living tube worm symbiont phylotypes were detected in vent seawater and in biofilms at multiple deep-sea vent habitats by PCR amplification, DNA sequence analysis, and fluorescence in situ hybridization. These findings support environmental transmission as a means of symbiont acquisition for deep-sea tube worms.
authors.affiliation: Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Tara L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Harmer
authors.forename: Randi D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Rotjan
authors.forename: Andrea D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Nussbaumer
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bright
authors.forename: Andrew W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Eric G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: DeChaine
authors.forename: Colleen M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Cavanaugh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D006376:Helminths / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology; D045482:Hot Springs / Q000382:microbiology*; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S