| Cultural and molecular approaches were used to analyse the microbial assemblages associated to the deep-sea hydrothermal vent polychaete worms of the family Alvinellidae. In a first part of the work, the populations associated to three alvinellid species from the Juan de Fuca Ridge (Paralvinella palmiformis, Paralvinella pandorae and Paralvinella sulfincola) were identified by phylogenetic analyses. A wide microbial diversity was detected, like a great number of new sequences or of sequences belonging to species previously unidentified at deep-sea hydrothermal vents. All the libraries were found to be dominated by sequences affiliated to the epsilon-Proteobacteria. In other respects, fermentative micro-organisms belonging to the Thermococcales, the... |
