Metagenomics of symbiotic Bathymodiolus mussels from a hybrid zone

Symbiont composition strongly influences the metabolic potential and ecological success of symbioses. To analyse the impact of host genetics on symbiont composition in Bathymodiolus mussels, we investigated a hybrid zone of B. azoricus and B. puteoserpentis at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We generated metagenomes to examine whether hybrid individuals harbour different SOX symbionts than their parental species. We compared the SOX symbionts regarding (1) their phylogeny based on marker genes (2) their genome-wide average nucleotide identity (3) abundances of their functional genes (4) their population differentiation based on single-nucleotide polymorphisms.

共生体组成显著影响共生体系的代谢潜能与生态适配成效。为解析宿主遗传学对深海贻贝属（Bathymodiolus）共生体组成的影响，本研究于大西洋中脊区域针对亚速尔深海贻贝（B. azoricus）与热液口深海贻贝（B. puteoserpentis）的杂交带开展了调查。本研究构建宏基因组（metagenome），以探究杂交个体是否携带有区别于其亲本物种的硫氧化共生体（SOX symbionts）。随后本研究从以下四个维度对硫氧化共生体展开比较分析：
(1) 基于标记基因构建的系统发育关系；
(2) 全基因组平均核苷酸一致性；
(3) 功能基因的丰度特征；
(4) 基于单核苷酸多态性的种群分化水平。