title: Use of carbon monoxide and hydrogen by a bacteria-animal symbiosis from seagrass sediments.
abstract: The gutless marine worm Olavius algarvensis lives in symbiosis with chemosynthetic bacteria that provide nutrition by fixing carbon dioxide (CO2 ) into biomass using reduced sulfur compounds as energy sources. A recent metaproteomic analysis of the O. algarvensis symbiosis indicated that carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2 ) might also be used as energy sources. We provide direct evidence that the O. algarvensis symbiosis consumes CO and H2 . Single cell imaging using nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry revealed that one of the symbionts, the γ3-symbiont, uses the energy from CO oxidation to fix CO2 . Pore water analysis revealed considerable in-situ concentrations of CO and H2 in the O. algarvensis environment, Mediterranean seagrass sediments. Pore water H2 concentrations (89-2147 nM) were up to two orders of magnitude higher than in seawater, and up to 36-fold higher than previously known from shallow-water marine sediments. Pore water CO concentrations (17-51 nM) were twice as high as in the overlying seawater (no literature data from other shallow-water sediments are available for comparison). Ex-situ incubation experiments showed that dead seagrass rhizomes produced large amounts of CO. CO production from decaying plant material could thus be a significant energy source for microbial primary production in seagrass sediments.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany.|Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kleiner
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany.|Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Division of Microbial Ecology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, A-1090, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wentrup
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Holler
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany.
authors.forename: Gaute
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lavik
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harder
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany.|Elba Field Station, HYDRA Institute for Marine Sciences, Via del Forno 80, Campo nell'Elba, LI, 57034, Italy.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lott
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany.
authors.forename: Sten
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Littmann
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany.
authors.forename: Marcel M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Kuypers
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dubilier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D002248:Carbon Monoxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000382:microbiology*; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D009835:Oligochaeta / Q000382:microbiology*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D018629:Spectrometry, Mass, Secondary Ion; D013457:Sulfur Compounds / Q000378:metabolism; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D013457:Sulfur Compounds; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002248:Carbon Monoxide; D006859:Hydrogen