The functional evolution of termite gut microbiota
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BackgroundTermites primarily feed on lignocellulose or soil in association with specific gut microbes. The functioning of the termite gut microbiota is partly understood in a handful of wood-feeding pest species but remains largely unknown in other taxa. We intend to fill this gap and provide a global understanding of the functional evolution of termite gut microbiota.ResultsWe sequenced the gut metagenomes of 145 samples representative of the termite diversity. We show that the prokaryotic fraction of the gut microbiota of all termites possesses similar genes for carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolisms, in proportions varying with termite phylogenetic position and diet. The presence of a conserved set of gut prokaryotic genes implies that essential nutritional functions were present in the ancestor of modern termites. Furthermore, the abundance of these genes largely correlated with the host phylogeny. Finally, we found that the adaptation to a diet of soil by some termite lineages was accompanied by a change in the stoichiometry of genes involved in important nutritional functions rather than by the acquisition of new genes and pathways.ConclusionsOur results reveal that the composition and function of termite gut prokaryotic communities have been remarkably conserved since termites first appeared ~ 150 million years ago. Therefore, the “world’s smallest bioreactor” has been operating as a multipartite symbiosis composed of termites, archaea, bacteria, and cellulolytic flagellates since its inception.
source:https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-022-01258-3
収録刊行物
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- Microbiome
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Microbiome 10 (78), 1-, 2022-05-27
BioMed Central
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詳細情報 詳細情報について
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- CRID
- 1050292472591482624
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- ISSN
- 20492618
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- 本文言語コード
- en
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- 資料種別
- journal article
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- データソース種別
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- IRDB
- Crossref
- KAKEN