Assessment of Flagellate Diversity at Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents Using the Combined Approach of Culture-Dependent and Culture-Independent Methods

Eighteen strains of flagellated protists representing 9 species were isolated and cultured from four deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean. The hydrothermal vent flagellates belonged to six different taxonomic orders: the Ancyromonadida, Bicosoecida, Cercomonadida, Choanoflagellida, Chrys...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Atkins, Michael S
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological Oceanography
DEEP OCEANS
ECOSYSTEMS
ELECTROPHORESIS
EVOLUTION(BIOLOGY)
FLAGELLATES
HYDROTHERMAL VENTS
MARINE BIOLOGY
OCEAN ENVIRONMENTS
PACIFIC OCEAN
PHYLOGENY
Physical Chemistry
PROTOZOA
THESES
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Summary:Eighteen strains of flagellated protists representing 9 species were isolated and cultured from four deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean. The hydrothermal vent flagellates belonged to six different taxonomic orders: the Ancyromonadida, Bicosoecida, Cercomonadida, Choanoflagellida, Chrysomonadida, and Kinetoplastida. Molecular and ultrastructural evidence point to one of the isolates. Ancyromonas, as a plausible candidate for the closest relative to the common ancestor of Metazoans, Fungi, and Choanoglagellates. Deep-sea vent samples were both cultured to select for kinetoplastid flagellates and analyzed without culturing by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) using PCR primers specific to the kinetoplastid clade. PCR and DGGE were used to specifically isolate and amplify target DNA's from all cultured kinetoplastid species in matching vent samples, thus corroborating the findings of culturing. Molecular methods had the additional ability to detect species presence where culturing did not, thereby providing a better indication of the distribution of these species. Many of the vent isolates were ubiquitous members of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems worldwide, suggesting a global distribution of these flagellate species. Experiments under vent conditions of high pressure and high concentrations of metals and sulfide showed that some of these species are very tolerant to extreme environmental conditions. Joint program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.