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The Bacterial Endosymbiosis of the Gutless Nematode, Astomonema Southwardorum: Ultrastructural Aspects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Olav Giere
Affiliation:
Zoologisches Institut und Zoologisches Museum, Universität Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany
Reinhard Windoffer
Affiliation:
†Marine Biological Association, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB
Eve C. Southward
Affiliation:
†Marine Biological Association, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB

Extract

The recently described gutless Astomonema southwardorum Austen, Warwick & Ryan 1993, from North Sea methane seeps lives in symbiosis with oval, extracellular bacteria completely filling the lumen of a modified gut. The bacterial strand is tightly lined by a thin layer representing very long intestinal cells of the host. The bacteria are 5.5–6.0 µm in maximum length and 3.5–4.0 µm in width. In the anterior body the alimentary tract is completely reduced. The structure and size of the symbiotic prokaryotes, as well as their extracellular location in the lumen of a non-functional gut, differ substantially from those in A. jenneri, the single species of this genus thoroughly studied electron-microscopically (Ott et al., 1982). These structural discrepancies suggest a careful reassessment of the genus Astomonema.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1995

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