title: Endemic hydrothermal vent species identified in the open ocean seed bank.
abstract: Hydrothermal vent systems host microbial communities among which several microorganisms have been considered endemic to this type of habitat. It is still unclear how these organisms colonize geographically distant hydrothermal environments. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, we compare the bacterial communities of sixteen Atlantic hydrothermal vent samples with our own and publicly available global open ocean samples. Analysing sequences obtained from 63 million 16S rRNA genes, the genera we could identify in the open ocean waters contained 99.9% of the vent reads. This suggests that previously observed vent exclusiveness is, in most cases, probably an artefact of lower sequencing depth. These findings are a further step towards elucidating the role of the open ocean as a seed bank. They can explain the predicament of how species expected to be endemic to vent systems are able to colonize geographically distant hydrothermal habitats and contribute to our understanding of whether 'everything is really everywhere'.
authors: Center for Bioinformatics, University of Hamburg, Bundesstraße 43, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Giorgio
authors: G
authors: Gonnella
authors: Molecular Biology of Microbial Consortia, University of Hamburg, Biocenter Klein Flottbek, Ohnhorststraße 18, 22609 Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Stefanie
authors: S
authors: Böhnke
authors: Heinrich-Pette-Institut, Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology, Martinistraße 52, 20251 Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Daniela
authors: D
authors: Indenbirken
authors: Institute of Geosciences, University of Kiel, Ludewig-Meyn-Straße 10, 24118 Kiel, Germany.
authors: Dieter
authors: D
authors: Garbe-Schönberg
authors: Institute for Geology, University of Hamburg, Bundesstraße 55, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Richard
authors: R
authors: Seifert
authors: Institute of Environmental Physics, University Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Mertens
authors: Center for Bioinformatics, University of Hamburg, Bundesstraße 43, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Kurtz
authors: Molecular Biology of Microbial Consortia, University of Hamburg, Biocenter Klein Flottbek, Ohnhorststraße 18, 22609 Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Mirjam
authors: M
authors: Perner
mesh_terms: D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D044822:Biodiversity; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D060086:Hydrothermal Vents / Q000382:microbiology*; D058974:Phylogeography; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S