Age polyethism drives community structure of the bacterial gut microbiota in the fungus-cultivating termite Odontotermes formosanus

Environmental Microbiology
Hongjie LiJianchu Mo

Abstract

Fungus-cultivating termites (Macrotermitinae) possess an elaborate strategy of lignocellulose digestion. It involves a lignocellulose-degrading fungal symbiont (genus Termitomyces), a diverse gut microbiota and a characteristic labour division in food processing. In this study, using pyrotag sequencing and electron microscopy, we analysed the bacterial microbiota in the hindgut of Odontotermes formosanus and its fungus comb to investigate the spatial organization, establishment and temporal succession of the bacterial communities colonizing specific microhabitats. Our results document strong differences between the communities at the hindgut epithelium and the luminal fluid of newly moulted, young and old worker termites. The differences in community structure were consistent with the density, morphology and spatial distribution of bacterial cells and the pools of microbial metabolites in the hindgut compartment, underlining that both gut development and the age-specific changes in diet affect the composition and functional role of their gut microbiota. These findings provide strong support for the concept that changes in diet and gut environment are important determinants of community structure because they create new niches f...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 18, 2016·Journal of Insect Science·LiJuan SuAnDong Song
Dec 18, 2018·Environmental Microbiology Reports·Saria OtaniMichael Poulsen
Mar 31, 2019·Insects·Rafael R da CostaMichael Poulsen
Apr 21, 2017·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Hongjie LiJianchu Mo
Oct 6, 2020·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Stephanie L Schnorr
Sep 15, 2020·Annual Review of Entomology·Hongjie LiCameron R Currie
Feb 2, 2021·Frontiers in Microbiology·Guiying YangJianchu Mo

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