Morphology, microanatomy and sequence data of Sclerolinum contortum (Siboglindae, Annelida) of the Gulf of Mexico

• Published in: Organisms Diversity & Evolution
• Main Authors: Eichinger, Irmgard, Hourdez, Stéphane, Bright, Monika
• Other Authors: Adaptation et Biologie des Invertébrés en Conditions Extrêmes (ABICE), Adaptation et diversité en milieu marin (AD2M), Station biologique de Roscoff Roscoff (SBR), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Station biologique de Roscoff Roscoff (SBR), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Austrian Science Foundation P20282-B17, Initiativkolleg `Symbiotic Interactions' of the University of Vienna, HERMES project, EC GOCE-CT-2005-511234, European Commission's Sixth Framework Program under the priority `Sustainable Development, Global Change and Ecosystems', European Community 226354
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: Sclerolinum; Siboglinidae; Symbiosis; Ultrastructure; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Arctic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01250920; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-012-0121-3

International audience Sclerolinum is a small genus of Siboglinidae (Annelida) living in an obligate mutualistic association with thiotrophic bacteria as adults. Its taxonomic position, based on morphology, has been controversial; however, molecular data point to a sister taxa relationship with vestimentiferans. 16S rRNA gene sequencing and comparative morphology revealed that the studied population from deep-sea hydrocarbon seeps of the Gulf of Mexico belongs to Sclerolinum contortum known from the Arctic Sea. Since no anatomical and microanatomical studies have been published yet, we conducted such a study on S. contortum using serial sectioning and light and transmission electron microscopy. We show that the Sclerolinum body, divided into a head, trunk, and opisthosoma, is very similar to that of the vestimentiferans, and therefore we propose that the body regions are homologous in both taxa.