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A complex picture of associations between two host mussels and symbiotic bacteria in the Northeast Atlantic

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Abstract

Among chemosymbiotic metazoans found at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, cold seeps and organic falls, members of the mussel clade Bathymodiolinae (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) have evolved interactions with a higher diversity of bacterial lineages than other bivalve groups. Here, we characterized the bacteria associated with “Bathymodiolus” mauritanicus and Idas-like specimens from three sites in the Northeast Atlantic (two mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Cadiz and one seamount of the Gorringe Bank). Phylogenetic analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA-encoding gene sequences demonstrated that “B”. mauritanicus has a dual symbiosis dominated by two phylotypes of methane-oxidising bacteria and a less abundant phylotype of a sulphur-oxidising bacterium. The latter was the dominant phylotype in a sympatric population of Idas-like mussels at the Darwin mud volcano. These results are the first report of a bacterial phylotype shared between two deep-sea mussels from divergent clades. This sulphur-oxidising bacterium was absent from Idas-like specimens from the other two sites (Gorringe Bank and Meknès mud volcano), in which bacterial clone libraries were dominated by other Gammaproteobacteria related to symbionts previously identified in Idas modiolaeformis from the Eastern Mediterranean. All Idas-like specimens studied herein are closely related and also related to I. modiolaeformis. However, they probably display different associations with bacteria, with the possible absence of both methane- and sulphur-oxidising symbionts at the Gorringe Bank. These results draw a very complex picture of associations between mussels and bacteria in the Northeast Atlantic, which could be highly variable depending on locale characteristics of the habitats.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to Jean-Pierre Henriet (chief scientist of the cruise B09/14b) and the pilots of the ROV Genesis (research vessel Belgica) for the collection of the CHEMECOLI experiments. This research also used samples provided by the E/V Nautilus Exploration Program, Expedition NA017. We thank the four reviewers for their very helpful comments. This research was supported by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under the HERMIONE project contract 226354, french ANR DeepOases, GDRE—DIWOOD and CHEMECO ESF EURODEEP (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT); EURODEEP/0001/2007). CFR was also supported by a postdoctoral fellowship (SFRH/BPD/64154/2009) from FCT (Portugal).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Systématique Adaptation, Evolution, UMR 7138 (UPMC CNRS IRD MNHN), Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, Paris, 75052, France

    Clara F. Rodrigues & Sébastien Duperron

  2. Departamento de Biologia and CESAM, Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal

    Clara F. Rodrigues, Marina R. Cunha & Luciana Génio

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  1. Clara F. Rodrigues
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  2. Marina R. Cunha
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  3. Luciana Génio
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  4. Sébastien Duperron
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Correspondence to Clara F. Rodrigues.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Rodrigues, C.F., Cunha, M.R., Génio, L. et al. A complex picture of associations between two host mussels and symbiotic bacteria in the Northeast Atlantic. Naturwissenschaften 100, 21–31 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0985-2

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