Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Gutless worms rely on handouts from internal microbes

Paracatenula worms store their energy in a peculiar ‘battery’: bacteria that dwell in the worms themselves.
Paracatenula marine flatworm

Bacteria growing inside this Paracatenula flatworm provide their host with care packages of fats, sugars and other nutrients. Credit: Oliver Jäckle/Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology

If the worm Paracatenula had a mouth, one could say that the critter was born with a spoon in it. Despite lacking a gut, these sea-dwelling animals are always well fed, thanks to bacteria living inside the worms’ bodies that supply them with all the nutrients they need — in handy packages.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 568, 278 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01147-0

References

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links