Riftia pachyptila, commonly known as the giant tube worm, is a marine invertebrate in the phylum Annelida. It inhabits hydrothermal vent ecosystems on the Pacific Ocean floor, where temperatures range from 2 to 30 °C. This species can tolerate extremely high hydrogen sulfide levels and relies entirely on symbiotic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria housed in its trophosome for nutrition. These worms can grow up to 3 meters in length, with tubular bodies reaching a diameter of 4 cm, making them one of the most iconic organisms in deep-sea vent ecosystems.
| Species | Phylum | Common Name | Ecosystem | Depth | Habitat | NCBI Taxonomy ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riftia pachyptila | Annelida | Cold seep, Hydrothermal vent | 2,514 | hydrothermal vent site Tica, East Pacific Rise (Alvin dive 4839, 9°50.398′N, 104°17.506′W) | 6426 |
| Genome Assembly | Genome Size | Assembly level | Released year | WGS accession | Submitter | BioProject | BUSCO completeness | Gene Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | 560.7Mb | Contig | 2022 | - | University of Vienna | PRJNA754493 | 99.37% | 25,984 |
| - | 554Mb | Contig | 2023 | - | QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON | PRJEB55047 | 95.60% | 37,037 |
| Title | Journal | Pubmed ID |
|---|---|---|
| Novel Insights on Obligate Symbiont Lifestyle and Adaptation to Chemosynthetic Environment as Revealed by the Giant Tubeworm Genome | Molecular Biology and Evolution | 34893862 |
| Distinct genomic routes underlie transitions to specialised symbiotic lifestyles in deep-sea annelid worms | nature communications | 37198188 |
