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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2000, p. 1685-1691, Vol. 66, No. 4
College of Marine Studies, University of
Delaware, Lewes, Delaware 19958
Received 16 September 1999/Accepted 10 January 2000
The Teredinidae (shipworms) are a morphologically diverse group of
marine wood-boring bivalves that are responsible each year for millions
of dollars of damage to wooden structures in estuarine and marine
habitats worldwide. They exist in a symbiosis with cellulolytic
nitrogen-fixing bacteria that provide the host with the necessary
enzymes for survival on a diet of wood cellulose. These symbiotic
bacteria reside in distinct structures lining the interlamellar
junctions of the gill. This study investigated the mode by which these
nutritionally essential bacterial symbionts are acquired in the
teredinid Bankia setacea. Through 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA)
sequencing, the symbiont residing within the B. setacea gill was phylogenetically characterized and shown to be distinct from
previously described shipworm symbionts. In situ hybridization using
symbiont-specific 16S rRNA-directed probes bound to bacterial ribosome
targets located within the host gill coincident with the known location
of the gill symbionts. These specific probes were then used as primers
in a PCR-based assay which consistently detected bacterial rDNA in host
gill (symbiont containing), gonad tissue, and recently spawned eggs,
demonstrating the presence of symbiont cells in host ovary and
offspring. These results suggest that B. setacea ensures
successful inoculation of offspring through a vertical mode of symbiont
transmission and thereby enables a broad distribution of larval settlement.
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Bacterial Symbiont Transmission in the
Wood-Boring Shipworm Bankia setacea (Bivalvia:
Teredinidae)
and
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: College of
Marine Studies, University of Delaware, 700 Pilottown Rd., Lewes, DE
19958. Phone: (302) 645-4078. Fax: (302) 645-4007. E-mail:
caryc{at}udel.edu.
Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of
North Carolina-Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2000, p. 1685-1691, Vol. 66, No. 4
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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