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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2006, p. 1388-1393, Vol. 72, No. 2
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.2.1388-1393.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Host-Symbiont Relationships in Hydrothermal Vent Gastropods of the Genus Alviniconcha from the Southwest Pacific

Yohey Suzuki,^1* Shigeaki Kojima,² Takenori Sasaki,³ Masae Suzuki,¹ Takashi Utsumi,² Hiromi Watanabe,² Hidetoshi Urakawa,² Shinji Tsuchida,¹ Takuro Nunoura,¹ Hisako Hirayama,¹ Ken Takai,¹ Kenneth H. Nealson,^1,4 and Koki Horikoshi¹

Extremobiosphere Research Center, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology, 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan,¹ Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 1-15-1 Minamidai, Nakano, Tokyo 164-8639, Japan,² Department of Historical Geology and Paleontology, The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan,³ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, 3651 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, California 90089-0740⁴

Received 20 May 2005/ Accepted 8 November 2005

Hydrothermal vent gastropods of the genus Alviniconcha are unique among metazoans in their ability to derive their nutrition from chemoautotrophic - and -proteobacterial endosymbionts. Although host-symbiont relationships in Alviniconcha gastropods from the Central Indian Ridge in the Indian Ocean and the Mariana Trough in the Western Pacific have been studied extensively, host-symbiont relationships in Alviniconcha gastropods from the Southwest Pacific remain largely unknown. Phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene sequences of host gastropods from the Manus, North Fiji, and Lau Back-Arc Basins in the Southwest Pacific has revealed a new host lineage in a Alviniconcha gastropod from the Lau Basin and the occurrence of the host lineage Alviniconcha sp. type 2 in the Manus Basin. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequences of bacterial endosymbionts, two -proteobacterial lineages and one -proteobacterial lineage were identified in the present study. The carbon isotopic compositions of the biomass and fatty acids of the gastropod tissues suggest that the - and -proteobacterial endosymbionts mediate the Calvin-Benson cycle and the reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle, respectively, for their chemoautotrophic growth. Coupling of the host and symbiont lineages from the three Southwest Pacific basins revealed that each of the Alviniconcha lineages harbors different bacterial endosymbionts belonging to either the - or -Proteobacteria. The host specificity exhibited in symbiont selection provides support for the recognition of each of the host lineages as a distinct species. The results from the present study also suggest the possibility that Alviniconcha sp. types 1 and 2 separately inhabit hydrothermal vent sites approximately 120 m apart in the North Fiji Basin and 500 m apart in the Manus Basin.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Extremobiosphere Research Center, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology, 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan. Phone: 81-46-867-9710. Fax: 81-46-867-9715. E-mail: yohey{at}jamstec.go.jp.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2006, p. 1388-1393, Vol. 72, No. 2
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.2.1388-1393.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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