Letter to Nature from:
Dubilier, Nicole , Caroline Mülders, Tim Ferdelman, Dirk de Beer, Annelie
Pernthaler, Michael Klein, Michael Wagner, Christer Erséus, Frank
Thiermann, Jens Krieger, Olav Giere, & Rudolf Amann. 2001.
Endosymbiotic sulphate-reducing and sulphide-oxidizing bacteria in an
oligochaete worm. - Nature 411(6835):298 - 302.
http://www.nature.com/nlink/v411/n6835/abs/411298a0_fs.html
Abstract: Stable associations of more than one species of symbiont within
a single host cell or tissue are assumed to be rare in metazoans because
competition for space and resources between symbionts can be
detrimental to the host. In animals with multiple endosymbionts, such as
mussels from deep-sea hydrothermal vents and reef-building corals, the
costs of competition between the symbionts are outweighed by the
ecological and physiological flexibility gained by the hosts. A further option
for the coexistence of multiple symbionts within a host is if these benefit
directly from one another, but such symbioses have not been previously
described. Here we show that in the gutless marine oligochaete Olavius
algarvensis, endosymbiotic sulphate-reducing bacteria produce sulphide
that can serve as an energy source for sulphide-oxidizing symbionts of the
host. Thus, these symbionts do not compete for resources but rather share
a mutalistic relationship with each other in an endosymbiotic sulphur cycle,
in addition to their symbiotic relationship with the oligochaete host."
--
Geoff Read <g.read at niwa.cri.nz>
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