A deep-sea bacterium related to coastal marine pathogens.

Evolution of virulence traits from adaptation to environmental niches other than the host is probably a common feature of marine microbial pathogens, whose knowledge might be crucial to understand their emergence and pathogenetic potential. Here, we report genome sequence analysis of a novel marine bacterial species, Vibrio bathopelagicus sp. nov., isolated from warm bathypelagic waters (3309 m depth) of the Mediterranean Sea. Interestingly, V. bathopelagicus sp. nov. is closely related to coastal Vibrio strains pathogenic to marine bivalves. V. bathopelagicus sp. nov. genome encodes genes involved in environmental adaptation to the deep-sea but also in virulence, such as the R5.7 element, MARTX toxin cluster, Type VI secretion system and zinc-metalloprotease, previously associated with Vibrio infections in farmed oysters. The results of functional in vitro assays on immunocytes (haemocytes) of the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, and of the early larval development assay in Mytilus support strong toxicity of V. bathopelagicus sp. nov. towards bivalves. V. bathopelagicus sp. nov., isolated from a remote Mediterranean bathypelagic site, is an example of a planktonic marine bacterium with genotypic and phenotypic traits associated with animal pathogenicity, which might have played an evolutionary role in the origin of coastal marine pathogens.

Planktonic, benthic and sympagic copepods collected from the desalination unit of Mario Zucchelli Research Station in Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica).

Background: Distributional data on planktonic, benthic and sympagic copepods collected in the framework of the XXXIVth Expeditions of the Italian National Antarctic Programme (PNRA) to the Ross Sea sector from 2018-2019 are here provided. These occurrences correspond to specimens collected from the 25 µm filters used in the desalination plant of the Italian research station "Mario Zucchelli" (MZS), located in the Terra Nova Bay area (TNB; Ross Sea, Antarctica). This dataset is a contribution to the Antarctic Biodiversity Portal, the thematic Antarctic node for both the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (AntOBIS) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Antarctic Biodiversity Information Facility (ANTABIF). The dataset was uploaded and integrated with the SCAR-AntOBIS database (the geospatial component of SCAR-MarBIN). Please follow the guidelines from the SCAR Data Policy (ISSN 1998-0337) when using the data. If you have any questions regarding this dataset, please contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata or via data-biodiversity-aq@naturalsciences.be. Issues with the dataset can be reported at the biodiversity-aq GitHub project. New information: We describe the diversity of marine copepods Terra Nova Bay sampled by the filters installed in the desalination unit (DU) of the Italian research station "Mario Zucchelli" described in recent work. The opening of the intake pipe of the DU is positioned at a depth of 4 m and allowed a total of 2,116 specimens to be sampled and recognised. In addition, new occurrence records of copepod genera and species are reported in the same zone. We provide an overview of the marine copepod diversity reported for TNB. The total of 2,116 individuals corresponds to 14 genera and 15 species and is represented by 136 occurrence records in this dataset. Around 52% of the total number of species are new records for the TNB area. The publication of this data paper was funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO, contract n°FR/36/AN1/AntaBIS) in the Framework of EU-Lifewatch as a contribution to the SCAR Antarctic biodiversity portal (biodiversity.aq).

Nematocyst types and venom effects of Aurelia aurita and Velella velella from the Mediterranean Sea.

Natural substances produced by venomous marine organisms are thought to be possible sources of useful compounds and new drugs having the potential to open new ways for pharmacology, nutrition and environmental applications. In this framework, cnidarians are very interesting being widely distributed and all are venomous organisms; so, a deep knowledge of their occurrence, morphology of venomous structures and of effects of venoms at cellular level is fundamental to evaluate the possible utilization of venomous compounds or extracts. In this research, the morphology and occurrence of nematocysts in two cnidarian species (Aurelia aurita, Velella velella), and the preliminary evaluation of the cytotoxicity of V. velella crude extract, of which cytotoxicity on cell cultures at present is unknown, were considered. The specimens were sampled in Güllük Bay, Southwestern coast of Turkey, and in the Gulf of Genova, Northwestern coast of Italy. Six nematocyst types (a-isorhiza, A-isorhiza, O-isorhiza, eurytele, polyspiras, birhopaloid) having different sizes, were observed in A. aurita, and two types (eurytele and stenotele) in V. velella. The crude extract from V. velella showed cytotoxic activity against cultured fibroblasts L929 at high doses, while inducing cell proliferation at low doses. The protein content in the extract increased remarkably after disruption of nematocysts.

Distributional records of Ross Sea (Antarctica) planktic Copepoda from bibliographic data and samples curated at the Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA): checklist of species collected in the Ross Sea sector from 1987 to 1995.

Distributional data on planktic copepods (Crustacea, Copepoda) collected in the framework of the IIIrd, Vth, and Xth Expeditions of the Italian National Antarctic Program (PNRA) to the Ross Sea sector from 1987 to 1995 are here provided. Sampling was performed with BIONESS and WP2 nets at 94 sampling stations at depths of 0-1,000 m, with a special focus on the Terra Nova Bay area. Altogether, this dataset comprises 6,027 distributional records, out of which 5,306 were obtained by digitizing original data reports and 721 are based on physical museum vouchers curated by the Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA, Section of Genoa). The MNA samples include 8,224 individual specimens that were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. They belong to four orders, 25 families, 52 genera, and 82 morphological units (out of which 17 could be determined at the genus level only). A variety of environmental data were also recorded at each of the sampling stations, and we report original abundances (ind/m3) to enable future species distribution modelling. From a biogeographic point of view, the distributional data here reported represented new records for the Global Biogeographic Information Facility (GBIF) registry. In particular, 62% of the total number of species are new records for the Ross Sea sector and another 28% new records for the Antarctic region.