MicrobeWorld

Bacterial parasites known to infect cell nuclei are often assumed to be few and far between. But, recent research from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Symbiosis Group, in Bremen, Germany, describes a novel bacterial parasite named "Candidatus Endonucleobacter bathymodioli" that invades the nuclei of deep-sea bathymodiolin mussels from hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. Interestingly, the authors of this research suggest that these parasites are more common and as Merry Youle from www.smallthingsconsiderd.com quips, they may even be "associated with your next seafood combination plate."

"Phylogenetic analyses showed that the "Ca. E. bathymodioli" belongs to a monophyletic clade of Gammaproteobacteria associated with marine metazoans as diverse as sponges, corals, bivalves, gastropods, echinoderms, ascidians and fish. We hypothesize that many of the sequences from this clade originated from intranuclear bacteria, and that these are widespread in marine invertebrates."