Balanced Polymorphism at the Locus of the Pompeii Worm and Its Variant Adaptability Is Only Governed by Two QE Mutations at Linked Sites.

The polychaete lives exclusively on the walls of deep-sea hydrothermal chimneys along the East Pacific Rise (EPR), and displays specific adaptations to withstand the high temperatures and hypoxia associated with this highly variable habitat. Previous studies have revealed the existence of a balanced polymorphism on the enzyme phosphoglucomutase associated with thermal variations, where allozymes 90 and 100 exhibit different optimal activities and thermostabilities. Exploration of the mutational landscape of phosphoglucomutase 1 revealed the maintenance of four highly divergent allelic lineages encoding the three most frequent electromorphs over the geographic range of .

Global depression in gene expression as a response to rapid thermal changes in vent mussels.

Hydrothermal vent mussels belonging to the genus Bathymodiolus are distributed worldwide and dominate communities at shallow Atlantic hydrothermal sites. While organisms inhabiting coastal ecosystems are subjected to predictable oscillations of physical and chemical variables owing to tidal cycles, the vent mussels sustain pronounced temperature changes over short periods of time, correlated to the alternation of oxic/anoxic phases. In this context, we focused on the short-term adaptive response of mussels to temperature change at a molecular level.

Thermal selection of PGM allozymes in newly founded populations of the thermotolerant vent polychaete Alvinella pompejana.

Alvinella pompejana lives on the top of chimneys at deep-sea hydrothermal vents of the East Pacific Rise. It is thought to be one of the most thermotolerant and eurythermal metazoans. Our experimental approach combines methods of population genetics and biochemistry, considering temperature as a potential selective factor.