The bacterial microbiota ofStolotermes ruficeps(Stolotermitidae), a phylogenetically basal termite endemic to New Zealand

Abstract

Stolotermes ruficeps is a widespread, primitive, lower termite occupying dead and decaying wood of many tree species in New Zealand's temperate forests. We identified core bacterial taxa involved in gut processes through combined DNA- and RNA (cDNA)-based pyrosequencing analysis of the 16S nucleotide sequence from five S. ruficeps colonies. Most family and many genus-level taxa were common to S. ruficeps colonies despite being sampled from different tree species. Major taxa identified were Spirochaetaceae, Elusimicrobiaceae and Porphyromonadaceae. Others less well known in termite guts were Synergistaceae, Desulfobacteraceae, Rhodocyclaceae, Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae. Synergistaceae, Lachnospiraceae and Spirochaetaceae were well represented in the RNA data set, indicating a high-protein synthesis potential. Using 130,800 sequences from nine S. ruficeps DNA and RNA data sets, we estimated a high level of bacterial richness (4024 phylotypes at 3% genetic distance). Very few abundant phylotypes were site-specific; almost all (95%) abundant phylotypes, representing 97% of data set sequences, were detected in at least two S. ruficeps colonies. This study of a little-researched phylogenetically basal termite identifies core bacteria taxa. These findings will extend inventories of termite gut microbiota and contribute to the understanding of the specificity of termite gut microbiota.

Developmental stages and gut microenvironments influence gut microbiota dynamics in the invasive beetle Popillia japonica Newman (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

“…On the other hand, the role of Oscillospira is still unknown and it is hypothesized that it may be involved in lignocellulose degradation (Kamagata, ). Rickenellaceae, with the genus Alistipes , and Desulfovibrionaceae have also been described in association with the guts of different animals (Koneru et al ., ; Ruengsomwong et al ., ), especially termites (Reid et al ., ; Makonde et al ., ), where they play an important role in the degradation of cellulose polymers (Ozbayram et al ., ).…”

The Gut Microbiota of Termites: Digesting the Diversity in the Light of Ecology and Evolution

“…Many of the libraries, particularly from older studies, were relatively small, and the diversity of the gut communities was severely undersampled. The application of next-generation sequencing technologies resolved these issues and also allowed the study of differences in community structure across a wide range of termite species (22,83,92,100), among individuals of the same species obtained from geographically separated colonies or subjected to different dietary regimens (7,95), or between different gut compartments or luminal fractions (23,54,65).…”

“…The great similarity of the gut microbiota within and among colonies of the same termite species (e.g., 44,92,95) suggests that proctodeal trophallaxis stabilizes the microbial community structure within a colony and ensures the faithful transfer of symbionts across generations, which should ultimately lead to cospeciation. However, cocladogenesis with the termite host has so far been firmly established only in the case of "Candidatus Azobacteroides pseudotrichonymphae," an endosymbiont of Pseudotrichonympha flagellates, and termites of the family Rhinotermitidae, which cospeciate with these flagellates, giving rise to a termite-specific clade of bacterial symbionts (76).…”

Gut bacterial and fungal communities of the domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori) and wild mulberry-feeding relatives

“…In this study, we further employed rRNA-Seq to characterize the metabolically active fractions of the community. This method has been employed to study microbial communities from diverse environments [ 15 – 17 ], such as the larval gut of the wood-feeding beetle [ 18 ].…”