News & Stories

Researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) decoded for the first time the chromosomal-level genome of a deep-sea gutless tubeworm and how the worm’s co-living bacterial partners manufacture organic nutrients for its host so it can survive the extreme habitat. The discovery lays foundation for potential applications such as biomaterial production and microbial growth control.Living in deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps ecosystems characterized by darkness, high pressure and often high concentrations of toxic substances, submarine tubeworms - common living organisms of such extreme environments, were known to owe their survival and fast growth to sulphide-oxidising symbiotic bacteria that live inside their body. However, the success behind such a complementary “marriage” between the tubeworms and their co-living bacteria had remained unknown due to the lack of genomic resources.

A research team led by Prof. QIAN Peiyuan, Head and Chair Professor from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)’s Department of Ocean Science and David von Hansemann Professor of Science, has published their cutting-edge findings of symbiotic mechanisms of a deep-sea vent snail (Gigantopelta aegis) in the scientific journal Nature Communications. They discovered that Gigantopelta snail houses both sulfur-oxidizing bacteria and methane-oxidizing bacteria inside its esophageal gland cells (part of digestive system) as endosymbionts. By decoding the genomes of both snail host and two symbionts, Prof. Qian’s team disclosed a novel dual symbiosis system and the molecular adaptation to the extreme environment, gaining a new understanding of the origin of life on Earth.