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Inorganic carbon uptake in hydrothermal vent tubeworms facilitated by high environmental pC02

Nature volume 362, pages 147–149 (1993)Cite this article

Abstract

THE marine invertebrate Riftia pachyptila has a remarkable symbiosis with intracellular carbon-fixing sulphide-oxidizing bacteria which was first discovered at 2,450m depth on the Galapagos Rift1–4. Such symbiotic arrangements have since been found in a variety of invertebrate taxa and habitats5,6. Studies of these symbioses have focused on temperature, sulphide and oxygen as critical environmental parameters5,7–9. As Riftia has a high growth rate and its symbionts are far removed from the host surface10,11, inorganic carbon supply to the symbionts has been recognized as a problem and host mechanisms to concentrate inorganic carbon have been posited12,13. Increased environmental CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) has not seriously been considered as a critical environmental parameter7,14. Here we report that elevated pCO2 (2.9 kPa) in the worms' environment is a determinant of internal total CO2 (σ2CO2) and pCO2, facilitating CO2 transport and diffusion to the symbionts. We propose that elevated pCO2 is a potentially critical environmental factor for this species as well as for other chemoautotrophic symbioses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences and Marine Science Institute University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106, USA

    James J. Childress, Raymond W. Lee & Daniel R. Oros

  2. Division of Science, Northeast Missouri State University, Kirksville, Missouri, 63501, USA

    Nancy K. Sanders

  3. Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, California, 92093, USA

    Horst Felbeck

  4. Laboratoire de Biologie Marine, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, 75252, Paris, Cedex 05

    André Toulmond

  5. CNRS, LP4601, 29682, Roscoff, France

    André Toulmond

  6. Département Environment Profond IFREMER Centre de Brest, BP 70, 29280, Plouzané, France

    Daniel Desbruyeres

  7. Geochemical and Environmental Research Group, Texas A&M University, 833 Graham Road, College Station, Texas, 77845, USA

    Mahlon C. Kennicutt II & James Brooks

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  1. James J. Childress
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Childress, J., Lee, R., Sanders, N. et al. Inorganic carbon uptake in hydrothermal vent tubeworms facilitated by high environmental pC02. Nature 362, 147–149 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/362147a0

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