Open AccessHorizontal transmission enables flexible associations with locally adapted symbiont strains in deep-sea hydrothermal vent symbioses
Author(s) -
Corinna Breusing,
Maximilian Genetti,
Shelbi L. Russell,
Russell Corbett-Detig,
Roxanne A. Beinart
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2115608119
Subject(s) - hydrothermal vent , biology , symbiosis , host (biology) , ecology , chemosynthesis , adaptation (eye) , invertebrate , deep sea , habitat , ecosystem , population genetics , symbiotic bacteria , extreme environment , population , evolutionary biology , hydrothermal circulation , bacteria , paleontology , fishery , demography , neuroscience , sociology
Significance In marine ecosystems, transmission of microbial symbionts between host generations occurs predominantly through the environment. Yet, it remains largely unknown how host genetics, symbiont competition, environmental conditions, and geography shape the composition of symbionts acquired by individual hosts. To address this question, we applied population genomic approaches to four species of deep-sea hydrothermal vent snails that live in association with chemosynthetic bacteria. Our analyses show that environment is more important to strain-level symbiont composition than host genetics and that symbiont strains show genetic variation indicative of adaptation to the distinct geochemical conditions at each vent site. This corroborates a long-standing hypothesis that hydrothermal vent invertebrates affiliate with locally adapted symbiont strains to cope with the variable conditions characterizing their habitats.