In the deep

André Luiz de Oliveira's postdoc has yielded the genome of Riftia pachyptila and the closed genome of its symbiont Candidatus Endoriftia persephone. Riftia's genome shows conserved developmental gene repertoire and evolutionary adaptations to the vent environment and to endosymbiosis. Through transcriptomics we found that the trophosome has additionally hematopoietic functions. Despite theoretical predictions for horizontal transmission, Endoriftia's genome is streamlined. We found a high versatility in dealing with sulfur. Surprisingly there are two copies of the rRNA operon.

The two articles can be found here:

de Oliveira, André Luiz; Srivastava, Abhishek; Espada-Hinojosa, Salvador; and Bright, Monika (2022). The complete and closed genome of the facultative generalist Candidatus Endoriftia persephone from deep-sea hydrothermal vents.” Molecular Ecology Resources 22(8):3106–3123

de Oliveira, André Luiz; Mitchell, Jessica; Girguis, Peter; and Bright, Monika (2022). Novel insights on obligate symbiont lifestyle and adaptation to chemosynthetic environment as revealed by the giant tubeworm genome. Molecular Biology and Evolution 39(1):msab347