Comparison of gut-associated and nest-associated microbial communities of a fungus-growing termite (Odontotermes yunnanensis) |
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Authors: | Yan-Hua Long Lei Xie Ning Liu Xing Yan Ming-Hui Li Mei-Zhen Fan Qian Wang |
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Institution: | 1. Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Pest Control, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei
Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China;2. Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China;3. Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Pest Control, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei |
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Abstract: | Abstract The digestion of cellulose by fungus-growing termites involves a complex of different organisms, such as the termites themselves, fungi and bacteria. To further investigate the symbiotic relationships of fungus-growing termites, the microbial communities of the termite gut and fungus combs of Odontotermes yunnanensis were examined. The major fungus species was identified as Termitomyces sp. To compare the micro-organism diversity between the digestive tract of termites and fungus combs, four polymerase chain reaction clone libraries were created (two fungus-targeted internal transcribed spacer ITS]– ribosomal DNA rDNA] libraries and two bacteria-targeted 16S rDNA libraries), and one library of each type was produced for the host termite gut and the symbiotic fungus comb. Results of the fungal clone libraries revealed that only Termitomyces sp. was detected on the fungus comb; no non-Termitomyces fungi were detected. Meanwhile, the same fungus was also found in the termite gut. The bacterial clone libraries showed higher numbers and greater diversity of bacteria in the termite gut than in the fungus comb. Both bacterial clone libraries from the insect gut included Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Spirochaetes, Nitrospira, Deferribacteres, and Fibrobacteres, whereas the bacterial clone libraries from the fungal comb only contained Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Acidobacteris. |
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Keywords: | fungus comb gut ITS phylotype termite Termitomyces |
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