Differences between Bacterial Communities in the Gut of a Soil-Feeding Termite (Cubitermes niokoloensis) and Its Mounds

Abstract

In tropical ecosystems, termite mound soils constitute an important soil compartment covering around 10% of African soils. Previous studies have shown (S. Fall, S. Nazaret, J. L. Chotte, and A. Brauman, Microb. Ecol. 28: [191][192][193][194][195][196][197][198][199] 2004) that the bacterial genetic structure of the mounds of soil-feeding termites (Cubitermes niokoloensis) is different from that of their surrounding soil. The aim of this study was to characterize the specificity of bacterial communities within mounds with respect to the digestive and soil origins of the mound. We have compared the bacterial community structures of a termite mound, termite gut sections, and surrounding soil using PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis and cloning and sequencing of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments. DGGE analysis revealed a drastic difference between the genetic structures of the bacterial communities of the termite gut and the mound. Analysis of 266 clones, including 54 from excised bands, revealed a high level of diversity in each biota investigated. The soil-feeding termite mound was dominated by the Actinobacteria phylum, whereas the Firmicutes and Proteobacteria phyla dominate the gut sections of termites and the surrounding soil, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses revealed a distinct clustering of Actinobacteria phylotypes between the mound and the surrounding soil. The Actinobacteria clones of the termite mound were diverse, distributed among 10 distinct families, and like those in the termite gut environment lightly dominated by the Nocardioidaceae family. Our findings confirmed that the soil-feeding termite mound (C. niokoloensis) represents a specific bacterial habitat in the tropics.

Composition of Bacterial Communities Associated with Natural and Laboratory Populations of Asobara tabida Infected with Wolbachia

“…Members of the Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Firmicutes were found, with some variation in the species recorded, depending on the method used. These results were in accordance with previous reports of microbes associated with insects, including Drosophila (17), mosquitoes (56), and termites (27). Although the main bacterial phyla are shared with many other arthropod lineages, we found that native A. tabida populations harbor a microbial community dominated by the genera Wolbachia and Rickettsia, in the order Rickettsiales.…”

Gut-specific actinobacterial community structure and diversity associated with the wood-feeding termite species, Nasutitermes corniger (Motschulsky) described by nested PCR-DGGE analysis

“…This study demonstrated that there was no obvious relationship between food microflora and gut actinobacterial community. This agrees with previous studies which stated that there was no substantial overlap between gut microbial communities in soil-feeding termites and the surrounding soils used as natural food (Donovan et al, 2004;Fall et al, 2007). Furthermore, since the identity of comigrating bands was confirmed by nucleotide sequencing of DGGE bands, the large number of fragments detected in the DGGE profiles can be considered as an indication of the presence of diverse actinobacteria taxa in the gut.…”

Identification, Antagonistic Potentials and Plasmid Profiling of Micro-Organisms Associated with Termitarium from Cocoa Trees in Ibule-Soro, Akure Nigeria

“…The method described by Fall., et al [7] was adopted for sample preparation. Using a sterile syringe, a 9ml of sterile distilled water was dispensed into 3 different test tubes under aseptic conditions and a 1g of the termitarium was poured into the first test tube, homogenized and a 1 ml was taken out for a serial dilution procedure till the 5th dilution was obtained.…”

“…However, only a few reports are available on the microbial diversity of termitarium [7]. In this study, there is need for exploration of this nest in other to know the possibility of discovering novel microorganisms.…”