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Title: Microbial epibiotic community of the deep-sea galatheid squat lobster Munidopsis alvisca
Abstract

Life at hydrothermal vent sites is based on chemosynthetic primary producers that supply heterotrophic microorganisms with substrates and generate biomass for higher trophic levels. Often, chemoautotrophs associate with the hydrothermal vent megafauna. To investigate attached bacterial and archaeal communities on deep-sea squat lobsters, we collected ten specimens from a hydrothermal vent in the Guaymas Basin (Gulf of California). All animals were identified asMunidopsis alviscavia morphological and molecular classification, and intraspecific divergence was determined. Amplicon sequencing of microbial DNA and cDNA revealed significant differences between microbial communities on the carapaces ofM. alviscaand those in ambient sea water. Major epibiotic bacterial taxa were chemoautotrophicGammaproteobacteria, such asThiotrichaceaeandMethylococcaceae, while archaea were almost exclusively represented by sequences affiliated withCa. Nitrosopumilus. In sea water samples, Marine Group II and III archaea and organoheterotrophicAlphaproteobacteria,FlavobacteriiaandPlanctomycetaciawere more dominant. Based on the identified taxa, we assume that main metabolic processes, carried out byM. alviscaepibiota, include ammonia, methane and sulphide oxidation. Considering thatM. alviscacould benefit from sulphide detoxification by its epibiota, and that attached microbes are supplied with a stable habitat in proximity to substrate-rich hydrothermal fluids, a mutualistic host-microbe relationship appears likely.

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NSF-PAR ID:
10362925
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Nature Publishing Group
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Scientific Reports
Volume:
12
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2045-2322
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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