Microbial mutualism in boring clams (Tridacna crocea):Ally shoring of oceans

Abstract

Ocean ecosystems are highly effective in the recycling of energy and matter. Carbon fixation is almost recycled because net carbon burial in terrestrial systems and export to the ocean via rivers. Heterotrophs efficiently reprocess organic matter because they depend on the energy in organic matter. Withal, heterotrophs cannot use total organic energy because some is shunted into metabolites like ammonium, and under anoxic conditions into reduced substances such as sulphide. These reduced inorganic compounds are used by chemo (litho) autotrophs to obtain energy for inorganic carbon fixation. Host - associated microbial symbionts are critical to the conversion of inorganic carbon into organic biomass (Beinart, R.A., 2019). In the world’s oceans, Boring clams belongs to family Teredinidae, (Shipworms) with habitat of eating wood, assisted by cellulases from the intracellular symbiotic gammaproteobacteria that inhabit their gills. Other shipworms (Kuphus polythalamius) also relying on gill-dwelling gammaproteobacteria for sulphur oxidation (Altamia et al., 2020) and Methane Oxidation. The Symbionts of the gills Teredinibacter turnerae T7901 and similar strains are among the greatest sources of Biosynthetic Gene Clusters (BGCs), with content equivalent to well-known commercial manufacturers such as Streptomyces spp. This implies that shipworms might be a good source of new compounds for drug discovery (Altamia et al., 2020).