{"id":1103,"date":"2018-12-13T04:10:28","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T04:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aassie.net\/Pro\/?p=1103"},"modified":"2018-12-13T04:36:07","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T04:36:07","slug":"mac-2k18-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aassie.net\/Pro\/mac-2k18-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Microbial Advent Calendar 2k18 \u2013 Bone eater!"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/4″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][\/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/2″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][image_with_animation image_url=”1105″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][\/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/4″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/2″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]In the depth of the ocean, you chew on what you can! We examine the curious case of the Osedax<\/em> worm for the 11th day of the Microbial Advent Calendar! Many marine worms have established symbioses with some type of bacteria, the most common association is between worms and sulfur-oxidizing\u00a0bacteria. Sulfur always gives you a little extra energy in the right habitat. Although\u00a0today’s worm is related to a whole clade of worms in such associations, Osedax<\/em> established an association to get energy from something completely\u00a0different: BONES!<\/p>\n

It was first found colonizing a whale fall, a nice word for a dead whale on the seafloor, somewhere at 3 km depth in Monterey Bay in 2004 (the paper is here<\/a>). Those worms are among the best collection of deep-sea curiosities, they are mouthless and gutless worm species but they somehow feed off the bone and there is a large skew in size between males and females. The males are so small that they accumulate in large numbers \u2014 up to 100 \u2014 in the gelatinous sheet that covers the female\u00a0Osedax<\/em>‘s body and oviduct.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/2″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][image_with_animation image_url=”1106″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][vc_column_text]\n

Image:<\/b>\u00a0Osedax japonicus<\/i>, an adult female exposed from a bone.
\n(Norio Miyamoto\/Naturwissenschaften<\/a>)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]\n

So, how are those worms eating the bones? How are bacteria linked to this? Well in the bottom part of the worm, the root that is actually anchored in the bone, there are a lot of bacteriocyte-like structures housing bacteria, from the Oceanospirillales order. The root is actually pumping collagen and cholesterol from the bone and transferring the compounds into the bacteria that can metabolize them\u00a0into something the worm can use. This nutritional symbiosis is the key to the worm’s success. Interestingly, when some authors looked at eggs and larvae, they were lacking the symbiotic bacteria. Meaning that the worms are capable of recruiting the right type bacteria locally next to a whale carcass!<\/p>\n

You can find all the cool papers about this story\u00a0here. The first symbiosis paper is here<\/a>, they have lovely EM pictures. And more recent ones\u00a0here<\/a> and\u00a0here<\/a>, where different authors had a look into the genome and tried to understand the mechanism behind bone digestion.<\/p>\n

And finally, to give proper credit to a better summary, have a read of the excellent post here<\/a> on Small Things Considered (Which is also a fantastic blog if you didn’t know about it).[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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