Genome of a thermal-vent worm yields insight into animal heat tolerance
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How do neurons keep working at the thermal limit of animal life? Our new chromosome-scale genome of the Pompeii worm starts to answer. It has a conservative genome but a finely tuned proteome:…
How do neurons keep working at the thermal limit of animal life?Our new chromosome-scale genome of the Pompeii worm starts to answer. It has a conservative genome but a finely tuned proteome: expanded globins, anaerobic enzymes, and new sulfur chemistry. These let the worm thrive while grazing on bacteria in hot, dark, oxygen-starved vents at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.This new proteome now offers thermostable tools for biochemistry and a window into physiology at extremes.This amazing project was led bySami EL HILALIandRichard Copley, with contributions from the Robinson, Hoelz, Martín-Durán, and Jollivet groups.Read the paper in BMC Biologyhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-025-02369-7
