Nitrogen-fixing Enterobacter agglomerans isolated from guts of wood-eating termites

Potrikus, C. J.; Breznak, John A.

doi:10.1128/aem.33.2.392-399.1977

Cited by 134 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Enterobacter spp. are known to fix atmospheric nitrogen in the apple maggot (Lauzon et al 2000) as well as in termites (Potrikus & Breznak 1977), and they have been isolated from Dendroctonus terebrans (Bridges 1981). Additionally, Pantoea, Rahnella aquatilis and Serratia spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The gut microbiota of the pine weevil is similar across Europe and resembles that of other conifer‐feeding beetles

et al. 2016

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The pine weevil (Hylobius abietis, Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is an important pest of conifer seedlings in Europe. Despite its economic importance, little is known about the composition of its gut microbial community and the role it plays in mediating the weevil's ability to utilize conifers as a food source. Here, we characterized the gut bacterial communities of different populations of H. abietis across Europe and compared them to those of other beetles that occupy similar ecological niches. We demonstrate that the microbial community of H. abietis is similar at higher taxonomic levels (family and genus) across locations in Europe, with Wolbachia as the dominant microbe, followed by Enterobacteria and Firmicutes. Despite this similarity, we observed consistent differences between countries and locations, but not sexes. Our meta-analysis demonstrates that the gut bacterial community of the pine weevil is very similar to that of bark beetles that also exploit conifers as a food source. The Enterobacteriaceae symbionts of both host taxa are especially closely related phylogenetically. Conversely, the microbiota of H. abietis is distinct from that of closely related weevils feeding on nonconifer food sources, suggesting that the microbial community of the pine weevil is determined by the environment and may be relevant to host ecology. Furthermore, several H. abietis-associated members of the Enterobacteriaceae family are known to contain genes involved in terpenoid degradation. As such, we hypothesize that the gut microbial community is important for the utilization of conifer seedlings as a food source, either through the detoxification of plant secondary metabolites or through the supplementation of essential nutrients.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The gut microbiota of the pine weevil is similar across Europe and resembles that of other conifer‐feeding beetles

et al. 2016

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“…Insects can gain access to atmospheric nitrogen only through associations with bacteria because the capacity to fix nitrogen is widely distributed among bacteria but apparently absent from all eukaryotes. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria have been demonstrated, for example, in a minority of termites (Benemann 1973;Potrikus & Breznak 1977;Ohkuma, Noda & Kudo 1999), the wood-feeding larvae of the stag beetle Dorcus rectus (Kuranouchi et al . 2006) and in fruitflies, particularly the 'medfly' Ceratitis capitata which contains large populations of nitrogen-fixing enterobacteria in their guts (Behar, Yuval & Jurkevitch 2005).…”

Section: Microbial Synthesis Of Essential Nutrients N I T R O G E N 'mentioning

confidence: 99%

The microbial dimension in insect nutritional ecology

Douglas¹

2009

Functional Ecology

720

637

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Summary 1.Many insects derive nutritional advantage from persistent associations with microorganisms that variously synthesize essential nutrients or digest and detoxify ingested food. These persistent relationships are symbioses. 2. There is strong experimental evidence that symbiotic microorganisms provide plant sap-feeding insects with essential amino acids and contribute to the digestion of cellulose in some wood-feeding insects, including lower termites. Basic nutritional information is, however, lacking for many associations, including the relative roles of microbial and intrinsic sources of cellulose degradation in many insects and B-vitamin provisioning by microorganisms in blood-feeding insects.3. Some nutritional interactions between insects and their symbiotic microorganisms vary among conspecifics and closely related species. This variation can, in principle, contribute to nutritional explanations for variation in the abundance and distribution of insects. For example, the plant utilization traits of phloem-feeding aphids and stinkbugs have been demonstrated to depend on the identity of microbial partners. Evidence that associations can evolve rapidly comes from the demonstration that the impact of the bacterium Wolbachia on natural populations of its insect host can change from deleterious to beneficial within two decades. 4. Developing genomic tools, especially massively parallel sequencing and metagenomic analyses, offer the opportunity to explore the metabolic capabilities of symbiotic microorganisms and their insect hosts, from which defined hypotheses of nutritional function can be constructed. Nutritional ecology provides the appropriate framework to test these hypotheses in the relevant ecological context.

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“…Portions of nine colonies of R. speratus were collected during May 1998 from rotten pine logs at Takaragaike, northern suburbs of Kyoto, western Japan. Workers of each colony were introduced to a sterile Petri dish and irradiated with a germicidal lamp to sterilize the body surface (Potrikus and Breznak 1977). The sterilized termites were dissected carefully with sterile pincers to remove the gut without rupture.…”

Section: The Composition Of Intestinal Bacteria In Reticulitermes Spementioning

confidence: 99%

Nestmate recognition mediated by intestinal bacteria in a termite, Reticulitermes speratus

Matsuura¹

2001

Oikos

103

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Discrimination and aggressive responses toward non‐nestmates have been observed in a number of termite species, but the mechanism is poorly understood. Here I present the novel hypothesis that differential intestinal bacteria composition leads to production of colony‐specific chemical cues that enable nestmate recognition.  The intestinal microflora of a lower termite, Reticulitermes speratus, consisted of many bacteria species. The composition of the intestinal bacteria was exclusively colony‐specific. Termites that had adsorbed an unfamiliar odor of bacteria sampled from another colony were fiercely attacked by nestmates. Experimental manipulation of the composition of bacteria by antibiotics successfully changed the recognition behavior toward nestmates. These results indicate that intestinal bacteria play an important role in nestmate recognition.

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Nitrogen-fixing Enterobacter agglomerans isolated from guts of wood-eating termites

Cited by 134 publications

References 27 publications

The gut microbiota of the pine weevil is similar across Europe and resembles that of other conifer‐feeding beetles

The gut microbiota of the pine weevil is similar across Europe and resembles that of other conifer‐feeding beetles

The microbial dimension in insect nutritional ecology

Nestmate recognition mediated by intestinal bacteria in a termite, Reticulitermes speratus

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