Scientists for first time study the elusive Giant Shipworm

>The shipworm’s small digestive system and gills were speckled with yellow, presumably from sulfur, suggesting that it lived off hydrogen sulfide, a toxic chemical, rather than the wood pulp diet of other shipworms.

>By analyzing the genomes of the shipworm along with its bacteria, as well as the enzymes it contained, Dr. Distel concluded that shipworms first ate wood, but acquired bacteria over millions of years of evolution that allowed it to mix an energy cocktail from chemicals in the seawater, mainly hydrogen sulfide from decaying wood, instead of eating the wood directly. A similar symbiotic relationship exists in a giant deep-sea mussel that is thought to have grown so big off energy from chemicals instead of organic matter.

>It’s kind of like how plants use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide in photosynthesis.

>This special relationship also has implications for medicine: “If you or I have bacteria living inside our cells, we’re sick,” Dr. Distel said. But either the bacteria evades the shipworm’s immune system, or the shipworm recognizes the bacteria as safe.

>“Understanding how an animal can live with bacteria inside their cells and not get sick and die could help inform our understanding of infection,” he added.

>Dr. Distel’s team believes many more mysteries may be unlocked by further study of this shipworm and its bacterial partner.

>“Whenever you find something so weird and so unusual, there’s often going to be unexpected discoveries that come from it,” he said.

https://static01.nyt.com/science/gifs/shipworm_600.gif

The author of this article is retarded. Bacteria is in everyone's stomach to allow us to eat food at all. There are over 600 types of bacteria in any persons gut at any time.

The article is hogwash

>>133572
Think before you post, please.

>>133572
First of all, the author directly quoted the doctor, so if you should call anyone an idiot, it would be the researcher.

Second of all, the scientist was talking about how the bacteria live INSIDE the cells of worms, which is completely different from the bacteria in your gut which live outside the cells.

So yeah, you're the retard.

>>133579
To be fair, the journalist really did a piss poor job of highlighting the significance of the finding. It is only in the direct quotes at the end where it is explained.

>>133508
looks like a dick

>>133508
>up to four feet long
Should've left it in the ocean. How are we going to compete with that?

>>133572
Technically everyone has bacteria living in their cells; endosymbiotic theory states that mitochondrion are bacteria that live inside our cells that help with ATP production. The shitworm isn't that unique compared to literally any other (multicellular) thing on the planet capable of cellular respiration.

>>133508
>Elusive
>People have been eating this thing for years

Bet the guy feels a bit stupid for spending 20 years looking for it...

>>135666
I thought the article was saying they don't usually find specimens longer than a few inches, and that these "giants" were from the inky depths where giant squids live, which is why scientists were keen to see what they lived on considering there is no wood down there.

>>133579
>what are mitochondria

>>135953
You beat me too it. I'm guessing living cells with living cells living inside of them doesn't happen too often for a reason.

>>135953
>>135972
>>135612
Due to reductive evolution, mitochondria and chloroplasts can no longer be viewed as endosymbiotic bacteria. They are as much a part of the cells as the ribosomes or golgi. This discovery will hopefully allow for studying the mechanisms of the reductive evolution that took place and get an insight into how our cells became what they are.