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New Paper in Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review |
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By Monika Bright and François H. Lallier
Bright M. and Lallier F.H. 2010. The biology of vestimentiferan tubeworms. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 48, 213-266.
Vestimentiferan tubeworms belong to the deep-sea polychaete family Siboglinidae. Instead of a digestive system, they live in symbiosis with endosymbiotic, chemoautotrophic bacteria. Their widespread and abundant occurrence at hydrothermal vents and hydrocarbon seeps has fostered more than 500 studies of their evolution and biogeography, ecology and physiology. The present review summarises recent work on the host biology in a broad sense and on host–symbiont relationships. |
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New Paper in Nature Reviews Microbiology |
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Bright M. and Bulgheresi S. 2010. A complex journey: transmission of microbial symbionts. Nature Reviews Microbiology 8: 218-230.
Transmission of symbionts from one host generation to the next can occur horizontally from the environment or vertically through the host germ line. In this Review, Bright and Bulgheresi detail the molecular mechanisms governing the transmission of a range of symbionts and discuss how transmission mode can shape the evolution of the symbiotic partners. |
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New paper in Cell and Tissue Research |
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Pflugfelder B, Cary CC, Bright M. 2009. Dynamics of cell proliferation and apoptosis reflect different lifestrategies in hydrothermal vent and cold seepvestimentiferan tubeworms. Cell and Tissue Research 337: 149-165.
This paper looks at the constrating life strategies of vestimentiferan tubeworms – fast in Riftia pachyptila from hydrothermal vents and slow in Lammellibrachia luymesi from cold seeps by studying the cell proliferation and cell death behavior. While both species exhibit extreme high proliferation rates, apoptosis downregulated in Riftia, leading to fast growth, while it is upregulated in Lamellibrachia, leading to slow growth and probably thus contributed to longevity. |
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New paper in FEMS Microbiology Ecology |
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Rinke C, Schmitz-Esser S, Loy A, Horn M, Wagner M, Bright M. 2009. High genetic similarity between two geographically distinct strains of the sulfur-oxidizing symbiont Candidatus Thiobios zoothamnicoli. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 67(2): 229-241.
This paper investigated some marker genes encoding key enzymes of the carbon and sulfur metabolism in populations of Candidatus Thiobios zoothamnicoli from colonial Zoothamnium niveum hosts of the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas. In addition the 16S rRNA gene of the Mediterranean population was studied. The very high amino acid sequence identity and the high nucelic acid sequence identity of the two geographically distant symbiont populations suggests that this symbiosis is very specific and temporarily and spatially stable. |
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