Bacterial Symbionts of Hydrothermal Vent Invertebrates: Niche Characterization, Pure Culture Isolation and Fine- Scale Evolutionary Divergence

在过去10年中， 加拉帕戈斯裂谷、瓜伊马斯盆地和其他地方 发现含有密集的，代谢活跃的 动物群落 这些社区， 黑暗和高度的空间隔离， 相似的群落，它们的食物链主要建立在 而不是在运输的产物上 从透光区。 岩石自养细菌是指 其氧化还原的无机化合物（例如氢 硫化物）以产生有用能量。 他们生产有机食品 化合物从前体二氧化碳和发生在 主要作为蠕虫、蛤等组织内的共生体 还有贻贝 到目前为止，这些共生体都没有被 与宿主有机体分离培养。 这些调查 （1）将测试多种方法来培养 共生的加拉帕戈斯喷口贻贝，（2）蛤类，（3） 完全纯化细菌DNA从许多 个体管蠕虫（Riftia pachyptila）来自广泛的 分离的通风口。 通过使用DNA方法：DNA 杂交精细尺度进化关系 在这些目前非常分离的人群之间， 定义了

Within the last 10 years, deep-sea hydrothermal vents of the Galapagos Rift, Guaymas Basin and other sites have been discovered to contain densely populated, metabolically active animal communities. These communities, living in permanent darkness and having a high degree of spatial isolation from similar communities, base their food chains largely on lithoautotrophic bacteria rather than on products transported from the photic zone. Lithoautotrophic bacteria are those which oxidize reduced inorganic compounds (e.g. hydrogen sulfide) to generate useful energy. They produce organic compounds from the precursor carbon dioxide and occur at the vents principally as symbionts within tissues of worms, clams and mussels. To date none of these symbionts has been cultured apart from the host organism. These investigations will (1) test numerous approaches for cultivation of the symbiont of the Galapagos vent mussel, (2) clam species, (3) complete purification of the bacterial DNA from numerous individual tube worms (Riftia pachyptila) from widely seperated vent sites. By using the method of DNA:DNA hybridization the fine-scale evolutionary relationships between these currently very disjunct populations will be defined.