Signal transduction and motility genes from the bacterial endosymbionts of Riftia pachyptila
Hughes, D.S.; Felbeck, H.; Stein, J.L. (1998). Signal transduction and motility genes from the bacterial endosymbionts of Riftia pachyptila. Cah. Biol. Mar. 39(3-4): 305-308. https://dx.doi.org/10.21411/CBM.A.F6908F2F
In: Cahiers de Biologie Marine. Station Biologique de Roscoff: Paris. ISSN 0007-9723; e-ISSN 2262-3094
Also appears in:
(1998). Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Biology: Funchal, Madeira, Portugal 20-24 October 1997. Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 39(3-4). Station Biologique de Roscoff: Roscoff. 219-392 pp., more
The chemoautotrophic bacterial endosymbionts of the hydrothermal vent tube-worm, Riftia pachyptila Jones, 1981 are the apparent sole source of nutrition to their host. The adult tube-worms lack a mouth and digestive system (Jones, 1981) and are never found without symbionts. The central role of the symbionts in providing their host with fixed carbon and their intracellular location suggests a tight integration and coordination of function (Felbeck & Childress, 1988). The symbionts have thus far eluded all attempts at cultivation and it is yet unclear how the tube-worms acquire the distinct bacterial symbionts from the myriad of free-living prokaryotes in the vent environment. In this specific and obligate association, we would expect to find coordinate regulation of specific "symbiotic" genes by host signals and a bacterial response similar to the induction of gene expression in other intracellular associations between bacteria and animal or plant hosts. Bacteria monitor and adapt to changes in their environment by one of two ways : by modifying the expression of particular genes through a two-component signal transduction system (reviewed in Hoch & Silhavy, 1995 and Parkinson et al., 1992), or by moving to a more favourable environment through a chemotaxis system. For the lack of cultivable symbionts, we have taken a molecular approach to identify functional two-component systems involved in bacterial sensing and components of the chemotaxis pathway including methyl-accepting chemotaxis receptors and the flagellar protein.
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