Gene Flow, Dispersal, and Systematics of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Organisms

该项目继续从热液喷口和冷水硫化物/甲烷渗漏中对深海生物进行遗传研究。本研究的目的是：1)估计全球海洋脊顶热液喷口区种群之间的基因流动；2)确定热喷口物种与生活在冷喷口硫化物/甲烷渗漏中的类似动物之间的系统发育关系。在过去的30个月里，我们在世界各地超过25个不同的喷口和渗漏区进行潜水，收集了100多个物种的冷冻样本。计划在没有足够样本的地点进行额外潜水。遗传数据通过检查等位酶、线粒体（mt） DNA、匿名单拷贝核（scn） DNA和PCR扩增基因的直接测序获得。这种综合遗传方法已经揭示了这些深海栖息地的物种多样性比以前所知的要高得多。一个科的喷口生物是否构成一个单系群，它们是否从相关的渗漏动物群中有多系起源，反之亦然，仍有待发现。正在进行的基因研究为生活在这些不寻常的深海环境中的优势物种内部和之间的关系提供了一个全面的图景。

This project continues its genetic studies of deep-sea organismsfrom hydrothermal vent and cold-water sulfide/methane seeps. The objectives of the study are: 1) to obtain estimates of gene flow among populations living in hydrothermal vent fields along ridge crests throughout the world's oceans; and 2) to define phylogenetic relationships among hot-vent species and similar fauna living in cold-vent sulfide/methane seeps. During the past 30 months, frozen samples of more than 100 species have been collected during submersible dives to over 25 distinct vent and seep areas throughout the world. Additional dives are plan at sites from which adequate samples are not available. Genetic data are obtained from examination of allozymes, mitochrondrial (mt) DNA, anonymous single-copy nuclear (scn) DNA, and direct sequencing of PCR amplified genes. This integrated genetic approach has already revealed much higher species diversity in these deep-sea habitats than was previously known. Whether the vent organisms of a family constitute a monophyletic group, whether they had polyphyletic origins from related seep fauna, or vice versa remains to be discovered. Ongoing genetic studies are providing a comprehensive picture of relationships within and between the dominant species living in these unusual abyssal environments.