Abstract
We describe the first records of spirochetes in the gut of fourteen species of continental gastropods from a range of habitats and representing six families (Amnicolidae, Baicaliidae, Bithyniidae, Pyrgulidae, Lithoglyphidae and Benedictiidae). The bacteria were mainly found in the crystalline style sac, as has been reported in marine bivalves. The surveyed habitats include water bodies in North America and Eurasia, including deep water hydrothermal vent and gas hydrate zones in Lake Baikal. Spirochetes were present both in mature and young snails, but were not detected in embryos before hatching, indicating lateral transfer. The surveyed gastropods range in trophic strategy, including phyto-, detrito- and bacteriophagous grazers and filter feeders. Our results indicate that spirochetes are commensal in the surveyed gastropods with potential limited benefit and no detriment to the host animal. We suggest that the specialized internal habitat of the crystalline style sac in molluscs is likely to reveal unrecognized spirochete diversity that will shed new light on gastropod trophic ecology and spirochete diversity.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Dr D. Taylor who kindly presented us with Fluminicola samples many years ago, to Dr A.B. Kupchinky and Mr V. Nichsheta for help in collecting snails. David Bass (NHM London) advised on future molecular approaches to spirochete studies. The service of the deep submergence vehicle “MIR” was organized and financially supported by Fund of the Conservation of Lake Baikal, and the Metropol Company. This work was done due to financial support of the FEB RAS, projects №№ 12-I-0-06-009 and 12-II-0-06-014 and of the RFBR, project № 12-05-98011. The manuscript benefited from the contributions of two reviewers, who we thank for their time and expertise.
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Supplemental Data Table 1
Corrected list of bivalve species and families and species that have been reported as potential hosts of Cristispira spirochetes in earlier literature. For discussion see Sitnikova et al. (reference current paper). (DOC 121 kb)
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Sitnikova, T., Michel, E., Tulupova, Y. et al. Spirochetes in gastropods from Lake Baikal and North American freshwaters: new multi-family, multi-habitat host records. Symbiosis 56, 103–110 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-012-0167-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-012-0167-1