Jillian Petersen is WWTF Vienna Research Group Leader at the Division of Microbial Ecology of the University of Vienna.
Abstract:
Nutritional symbioses between bivalves and chemosynthetic bacteria form the basis of entire ecosystems such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, and can contribute substantially to productivity in shallow marine habitats such as seagrass meadows. Animal ‘microbiomes’ can be enormously complex, but chemosynthetic symbioses are extraordinarily specific: Most animal hosts associate with only one species of chemosynthetic symbiotic bacteria. Chemosynthetic symbioses were first found in bivalves in 1983, heralding decades of discoveries on their biodiversity, function and evolution. The ‘omics revolution’ is now transforming our view of the biology of chemosynthetic symbionts, revealing novel energy sources such as hydrogen, new metabolic capabilities such as nitrogen fixation, unexpected functions in host defense, and mechanisms of interaction between symbionts and hosts. The greatest challenge for the future is to develop experimental approaches to test this plethora of new ideas in the field and in the laboratory.