Recent Progress in Deep-sea Hydrothermal Vent Communities

The hydrothermal vent communities were actively studied in rescent years and significant progress has been obtained.The Iinvestigations of hydrothermal vent communities indicate that a number of factors could affect the composition of the community,including temperature,environmental chemistry,the site and type of vent,and the cycle of hydrothermal activities.In this period,representatives of several new taxa of microorganisms were identified based on the successful culture in the laboratory.The mechanism of gene in regulating the microbial physiological function,the symbiosis between animals and microbe,and the mechanism of physiological adaptations to extreme environment were established by genetic sequencing ofand functionalization of the hydrothermal organisms.Also,our knowledge on the microbial diversity and the community structure of the hydrothermal vent environment extended significantly by the macrogenetic surveys of un-cultured microbe in the hydrothermal vent communities.Deep-sea hydrothermal vents were also found to be inhabited by virus.The existence and significant ecological roles of chemoautotrophic and autotrophic microbe in the hydrothermal vent communities strongly support the hypothesis that the life emerges at the hydrothermal environment on the Earth.