Abstract
Temperature is one of the most important environmental factors that governs a species' distribution. Some highly specialized prokaryotes can grow at temperatures above 113 °C (ref. 1), but eukaryotes appear less versatile2 and do not normally occur above 55 °C. Here we show that a colony-dwelling polychaete worm, inhabiting deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimneys, regularly experiences temperatures above 80 °C and a thermal gradient of 60 °C or more over its body length.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Transcriptome analysis of gene expression profiling from the deep sea in situ to the laboratory for the cold seep mussel Gigantidas haimaensis
BMC Genomics Open Access 14 December 2022
-
Genomic patterns of divergence in the early and late steps of speciation of the deep-sea vent thermophilic worms of the genus Alvinella
BMC Ecology and Evolution Open Access 03 September 2022
-
Evolutionary history of the p53 family DNA-binding domain: insights from an Alvinella pompejana homolog
Cell Death & Disease Open Access 07 March 2022
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Blochl, E. et al. Extremophiles 1, 14–21 (1997).
Tansey, M. R. & Brock, T. D. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 69, 2426–2428 (1972).
Chevaldonné, P., Desbruyères, D. & Le Haître, M. Deep Sea Res. 38, 1417–1430 (1991).
Desbruyères, D. et al. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 295, 489–494 (1982).
Chevaldonné, P., Desbruyères, D. & Childress, J. J. Nature 359, 593–594 (1992).
Gehring, W. J. & Wehner, R. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 92, 2994–2998 (1995).
Gaill, F. & Hunt, S. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 34, 267–274 (1986).
Desbruyères, D., Gaill, F., Laubier, L. & Fouquet, Y. Bull. Biol. Soc. Wash. 6, 103–116 (1985).
Haddad, M. A., Camacho, F., Durand, P. & Cary, S. C. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 61, 1679–1687 (1995).
Cary, S. C., Cottrell, M. T., Stein, J. L., Camacho, F. & Desbruyères, D. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 63, 1124–1130 (1997).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cary, S., Shank, T. & Stein, J. Worms bask in extreme temperatures. Nature 391, 545–546 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/35286
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35286
This article is cited by
-
Genomic patterns of divergence in the early and late steps of speciation of the deep-sea vent thermophilic worms of the genus Alvinella
BMC Ecology and Evolution (2022)
-
Transcriptome analysis of gene expression profiling from the deep sea in situ to the laboratory for the cold seep mussel Gigantidas haimaensis
BMC Genomics (2022)
-
Evolutionary history of the p53 family DNA-binding domain: insights from an Alvinella pompejana homolog
Cell Death & Disease (2022)
-
The microbiomes of deep-sea hydrothermal vents: distributed globally, shaped locally
Nature Reviews Microbiology (2019)
-
Antagonistic evolution of an antibiotic and its molecular chaperone: how to maintain a vital ectosymbiosis in a highly fluctuating habitat
Scientific Reports (2017)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
