Influence of CH4 and H2S availability on symbiont distribution, carbon assimilation and transfer in the dual symbiotic vent mussel Bathymodiolus azoricus
| Type | Article | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 2008-12-11 | ||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||
| Author(s) | Riou V.1, 2, Halary S.3, 4, Duperron S.3, 4, Bouillon S.2, 5, 6, Elskens M.2, Bettencourt R.1, Santos R. S.1, Dehairs F.2, Colaco A.1 | ||||||||
| Affiliation(s) | 1 : Univ Azores, IMAR, Dept Oceanog & Fisheries, Horta, Portugal. 2 : Vrije Univ Brussels, Dept Analyt & Environm Chem, Brussels, Belgium. 3 : Univ Paris 06, UPMC, UMR 7138, SAE AMEX, Paris, France. 4 : CNRS, UMR 7138, SAE AMEX, Paris, France. 5 : Netherlands Inst Ecol, Ctr Estuarine & Marine Ecol, Yerseke, Netherlands. 6 : Katholieke Univ Leuven, Dept Earth & Environm Sci, Louvain, Belgium. |
||||||||
| Source | Biogeosciences (1726-4170) (Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh), 2008-12-11 , Vol. 5 , N. 6 , P. 1681-1691 | ||||||||
| DOI | 10.5194/bg-5-1681-2008 | ||||||||
| WOS© Times Cited | 47 | ||||||||
| Keyword(s) | mid-atlantic ridge, hydrocarbon-seep mussel, deep-sea mussels, hydrothermal-vent, puteoserpentis bivalvia, mytilidae, methane, endosymbionts, bacteria, metabolism | ||||||||
| Abstract | High densities of mussels of the genus Bathymodiolus are present at hydrothermal vents of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It was previously proposed that the chemistry at vent sites would affect their sulphide- and methane-oxidizing endosymbionts' abundance. In this study, we confirmed the latter assumption using fluorescence in situ hybridization on Bathymodiolus azoricus specimens maintained in a controlled laboratory environment at atmospheric pressure with one, both or none of the chemical substrates. A high level of symbiosis plasticity was observed, methane-oxidizers occupying between 4 and 39% of total bacterial area and both symbionts developing according to the presence or absence of their substrates. Using (HCO3-)-C-13 in the presence of sulphide, or (CH4)-C-13, we monitored carbon assimilation by the endosymbionts and its translocation to symbiont-free mussel tissues. Carbon was incorporated from methane and sulphide- oxidized inorganic carbon at rates 3 to 10 times slower in the host muscle tissue than in the symbiont-containing gill tissue. Both symbionts thus contribute actively to B. azoricus nutrition and adapt to the availability of their substrates. Further experiments with varying substrate concentrations using the same set-up should provide useful tools to study and even model the effects of changes in hydrothermal fluids on B. azoricus' chemosynthetic nutrition. | ||||||||
| Full Text |
|