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Dar MA, Xie R, Jing L, Qing X, Ali S, Pandit RS, Shaha CM, Sun J. Elucidating the structure, and composition of bacterial symbionts in the gut regions of wood-feeding termite, Coptotermes formosanus and their functional profile towards lignocellulolytic systems. Front Microbiol 2024; 15:1395568. [PMID: 38846576 PMCID: PMC11155305 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1395568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/09/2024] Open
Abstract
The wood-feeding termite, Coptotermes formosanus, presents an efficient lignocellulolytic system, offering a distinctive model for the exploration of host-microbial symbiosis towards lignocellulose degradation. Despite decades of investigation, understanding the diversity, community structure, and functional profiles of bacterial symbionts within specific gut regions, particularly the foregut and midgut of C. formosanus, remains largely elusive. In light of this knowledge gap, our efforts focused on elucidating the diversity, community composition and functions of symbiotic bacteria inhabiting the foregut, midgut, and hindgut of C. formosanus via metagenomics. The termite harbored a diverse community of bacterial symbionts encompassing 352 genera and 26 known phyla, exhibiting an uneven distribution across gut regions. Notably, the hindgut displayed a higher relative abundance of phyla such as Bacteroidetes (56.9%) and Spirochetes (23.3%). In contrast, the foregut and midgut were predominantly occupied by Proteobacteria (28.9%) and Firmicutes (21.2%) after Bacteroidetes. The foregut harbored unique phyla like Candidate phylum_TM6 and Armatimonadetes. At the family level, Porphyromonadaceae (28.1, 40.6, and 53.5% abundance in foregut, midgut, and hindgut, respectively) and Spirochaetaceae (foregut = 9%, midgut = 16%, hindgut = 21.6%) emerged as dominant families in the termite's gut regions. Enriched operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were most abundant in the foregut (28), followed by the hindgut (14), while the midgut exhibited enrichment of only two OTUs. Furthermore, the functional analyses revealed distinct influences of bacterial symbionts on various metabolic pathways, particularly carbohydrate and energy metabolisms of the host. Overall, these results underscore significant variations in the structure of the bacterial community among different gut regions of C. formosanus, suggesting unique functional roles of specific bacteria, thereby inspiring further investigations to resolve the crosstalk between host and microbiomes in individual gut-regions of the termite.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mudasir A. Dar
- School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Biofuels Institute, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
- Department of Zoology, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India
| | - Rongrong Xie
- School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Biofuels Institute, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
| | - Luohui Jing
- School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Biofuels Institute, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
| | - Xu Qing
- School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Biofuels Institute, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
| | - Shehbaz Ali
- School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Biofuels Institute, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
| | | | - Chaitali M. Shaha
- Department of Zoology, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India
| | - Jianzhong Sun
- School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Biofuels Institute, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
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Xue Y, Li H, Kang X. Molecular unraveling of polysaccharide digestion in wood-feeding termites: A solid-state NMR perspective. Carbohydr Polym 2024; 331:121843. [PMID: 38388031 DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2024.121843] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
Termites are among the most efficient organisms utilizing polysaccharides from wood and play a significant role in global carbon recycling, especially within tropical and subtropical ecosystems. Yet, the molecular details in polysaccharide degradation by termites remain largely unexplored. In this work, we have elucidated the shared and distinct molecular details in polysaccharides digestion by the higher termite Nasutitermes on poplar and the lower termite Cryptotermes on pine using high resolution solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. For the first time, structural polymers are partitioned into the minor mobile and dominant rigid phases for individual examination. The mobile polysaccharides receive less structural impacts and exhibit greater digestibility compared to the rigid counterparts. While both termites effectively degrade cellulose, Nasutitermes significantly outperforms Cryptotermes in hemicellulose breakdown. In the rigid phase, cellulose is comprehensively degraded into a fragmented and more dynamically consistent structure; As Nasutitermes breaks down hemicellulose in a similar manner to cellulose, Cryptotermes selectively digests hemicellulose at its interfaces with cellulose. Additionally, crystalline cellulose undergoes selective degradation, and the digestion of amorphous cellulose might involve sugar chain detachment within microfibrils. Overall, our findings offer significant advancements and fresh perspectives on the polysaccharide digestion strategies of different termite lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Xue
- Institute of Drug Discovery Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
| | - Hongjie Li
- State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-products, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China.
| | - Xue Kang
- Institute of Drug Discovery Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China.
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Li J, Fu N, Wang M, Gao C, Gao B, Ren L, Tao J, Luo Y. Functional and Compositional Changes in Sirex noctilio Gut Microbiome in Different Habitats: Unraveling the Complexity of Invasive Adaptation. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:2526. [PMID: 38473774 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25052526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2023] [Revised: 02/04/2024] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
The mutualistic symbiosis relationship between the gut microbiome and their insect hosts has attracted much scientific attention. The native woodwasp, Sirex nitobei, and the invasive European woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, are two pests that infest pines in northeastern China. Following its encounter with the native species, however, there is a lack of research on whether the gut microbiome of S. noctilio changed, what causes contributed to these alterations, and whether these changes were more conducive to invasive colonization. We used high-throughput and metatranscriptomic sequencing to investigate S. noctilio larval gut and frass from four sites where only S. noctilio and both two Sirex species and investigated the effects of environmental factors, biological interactions, and ecological processes on S. noctilio gut microbial community assembly. Amplicon sequencing of two Sirex species revealed differential patterns of bacterial and fungal composition and functional prediction. S. noctilio larval gut bacterial and fungal diversity was essentially higher in coexistence sites than in separate existence sites, and most of the larval gut bacterial and fungal community functional predictions were significantly different as well. Moreover, temperature and precipitation positively correlate with most of the highly abundant bacterial and fungal genera. Source-tracking analysis showed that S. noctilio larvae at coexistence sites remain dependent on adult gut transmission (vertical transmission) or recruitment to frass (horizontal transmission). Meanwhile, stochastic processes of drift and dispersal limitation also have important impacts on the assembly of S. noctilio larval gut microbiome, especially at coexistence sites. In summary, our results reveal the potential role of changes in S. noctilio larval gut microbiome in the successful colonization and better adaptation of the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiale Li
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Forest Pest Control, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
- Sino-France Joint Laboratory for Invasive Forest Pests in Eurasia, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Ningning Fu
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Forest Pest Control, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
- Department of Forest Protection, College of Forestry, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding 071033, China
| | - Ming Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Forest Pest Control, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510260, China
| | - Chenglong Gao
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Forest Pest Control, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Silviculture, Protection and Utilization, Guangdong Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou 510520, China
| | - Bingtao Gao
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Forest Pest Control, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
- Research Institute of Tropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou 510520, China
| | - Lili Ren
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Forest Pest Control, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
- Sino-France Joint Laboratory for Invasive Forest Pests in Eurasia, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Jing Tao
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Forest Pest Control, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
- Sino-France Joint Laboratory for Invasive Forest Pests in Eurasia, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Youqing Luo
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Forest Pest Control, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
- Sino-France Joint Laboratory for Invasive Forest Pests in Eurasia, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
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Nweze JE, Šustr V, Brune A, Angel R. Functional similarity, despite taxonomical divergence in the millipede gut microbiota, points to a common trophic strategy. MICROBIOME 2024; 12:16. [PMID: 38287457 PMCID: PMC10823672 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-023-01731-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/31/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Many arthropods rely on their gut microbiome to digest plant material, which is often low in nitrogen but high in complex polysaccharides. Detritivores, such as millipedes, live on a particularly poor diet, but the identity and nutritional contribution of their microbiome are largely unknown. In this study, the hindgut microbiota of the tropical millipede Epibolus pulchripes (large, methane emitting) and the temperate millipede Glomeris connexa (small, non-methane emitting), fed on an identical diet, were studied using comparative metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. RESULTS The results showed that the microbial load in E. pulchripes is much higher and more diverse than in G. connexa. The microbial communities of the two species differed significantly, with Bacteroidota dominating the hindguts of E. pulchripes and Proteobacteria (Pseudomonadota) in G. connexa. Despite equal sequencing effort, de novo assembly and binning recovered 282 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from E. pulchripes and 33 from G. connexa, including 90 novel bacterial taxa (81 in E. pulchripes and 9 in G. connexa). However, despite this taxonomic divergence, most of the functions, including carbohydrate hydrolysis, sulfate reduction, and nitrogen cycling, were common to the two species. Members of the Bacteroidota (Bacteroidetes) were the primary agents of complex carbon degradation in E. pulchripes, while members of Proteobacteria dominated in G. connexa. Members of Desulfobacterota were the potential sulfate-reducing bacteria in E. pulchripes. The capacity for dissimilatory nitrate reduction was found in Actinobacteriota (E. pulchripes) and Proteobacteria (both species), but only Proteobacteria possessed the capacity for denitrification (both species). In contrast, some functions were only found in E. pulchripes. These include reductive acetogenesis, found in members of Desulfobacterota and Firmicutes (Bacillota) in E. pulchripes. Also, diazotrophs were only found in E. pulchripes, with a few members of the Firmicutes and Proteobacteria expressing the nifH gene. Interestingly, fungal-cell-wall-degrading glycoside hydrolases (GHs) were among the most abundant carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) expressed in both millipede species, suggesting that fungal biomass plays an important role in the millipede diet. CONCLUSIONS Overall, these results provide detailed insights into the genomic capabilities of the microbial community in the hindgut of millipedes and shed light on the ecophysiology of these essential detritivores. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julius Eyiuche Nweze
- Institute of Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry, Biology Centre CAS, České Budějovice, Czechia
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czechia
| | - Vladimír Šustr
- Institute of Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry, Biology Centre CAS, České Budějovice, Czechia
| | - Andreas Brune
- RG Insect Gut Microbiology and Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
| | - Roey Angel
- Institute of Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry, Biology Centre CAS, České Budějovice, Czechia.
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czechia.
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Wang S, Su M, Hu X, Wang X, Han Q, Yu Q, Heděnec P, Li H. Gut diazotrophs in lagomorphs are associated with season but not altitude and host phylogeny. FEMS Microbiol Lett 2024; 371:fnad135. [PMID: 38124623 DOI: 10.1093/femsle/fnad135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Invertebrates such as termites feeding on nutrient-poor substrate receive essential nitrogen by biological nitrogen fixation of gut diazotrophs. However, the diversity and composition of gut diazotrophs of vertebrates such as Plateau pikas living in nutrient-poor Qinghai-Tibet Plateau remain unknown. To fill this knowledge gap, we studied gut diazotrophs of Plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) and its related species, Daurian pikas (Ochotona daurica), Hares (Lepus europaeus) and Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) by high-throughput amplicon sequencing methods. We analyzed whether the gut diazotrophs of Plateau pikas are affected by season, altitude, and species, and explored the relationship between gut diazotrophs and whole gut microbiomes. Our study showed that Firmicutes, Spirochaetes, and Euryarchaeota were the dominant gut diazotrophs of Plateau pikas. The beta diversity of gut diazotrophs of Plateau pikas was significantly different from the other three lagomorphs, but the alpha diversity did not show a significant difference among the four lagomorphs. The gut diazotrophs of Plateau pikas were the most similarly to that of Rabbits, followed by Daurian pikas and Hares, which was inconsistent with gut microbiomes or animal phylogeny. The dominant gut diazotrophs of the four lagomorphs may reflect their living environment and dietary habits. Season significantly affected the alpha diversity and abundance of dominant gut diazotrophs. Altitude had no significant effect on the gut diazotrophs of Plateau pikas. In addition, the congruence between gut microbiomes and gut diazotrophs was low. Our results proved that the gut of Plateau pikas was rich in gut diazotrophs, which is of great significance for the study of ecology and evolution of lagomorphs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sijie Wang
- School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, 199 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
| | - Ming Su
- Central South Inventory and Planning Institute of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, 143 Xiangzhang East Road, Changsha, Hunan Province 410014, China
| | - Xueqian Hu
- School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, 199 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
| | - Xiaochen Wang
- School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, 199 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
| | - Qian Han
- School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, 199 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
| | - Qiaoling Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, 768 Jiayuguan West Road, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730020, China
| | - Petr Heděnec
- Institute for Tropical Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, University Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu 21030, Malaysia
| | - Huan Li
- School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, 199 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, 768 Jiayuguan West Road, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730020, China
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Thapa S, Zhou S, O'Hair J, Al Nasr K, Ropelewski A, Li H. Exploring the microbial diversity and characterization of cellulase and hemicellulase genes in goat rumen: a metagenomic approach. BMC Biotechnol 2023; 23:51. [PMID: 38049781 PMCID: PMC10696843 DOI: 10.1186/s12896-023-00821-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Goat rumen microbial communities are perceived as one of the most potential biochemical reservoirs of multi-functional enzymes, which are applicable to enhance wide array of bioprocesses such as the hydrolysis of cellulose and hemi-cellulose into fermentable sugar for biofuel and other value-added biochemical production. Even though, the limited understanding of rumen microbial genetic diversity and the absence of effective screening culture methods have impeded the full utilization of these potential enzymes. In this study, we applied culture independent metagenomics sequencing approach to isolate, and identify microbial communities in goat rumen, meanwhile, clone and functionally characterize novel cellulase and xylanase genes in goat rumen bacterial communities. RESULTS Bacterial DNA samples were extracted from goat rumen fluid. Three genomic libraries were sequenced using Illumina HiSeq 2000 for paired-end 100-bp (PE100) and Illumina HiSeq 2500 for paired-end 125-bp (PE125). A total of 435gb raw reads were generated. Taxonomic analysis using Graphlan revealed that Fibrobacter, Prevotella, and Ruminococcus are the most abundant genera of bacteria in goat rumen. SPAdes assembly and prodigal annotation were performed. The contigs were also annotated using the DOE-JGI pipeline. In total, 117,502 CAZymes, comprising endoglucanases, exoglucanases, beta-glucosidases, xylosidases, and xylanases, were detected in all three samples. Two genes with predicted cellulolytic/xylanolytic activities were cloned and expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3). The endoglucanases and xylanase enzymatic activities of the recombinant proteins were confirmed using substrate plate assay and dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) analysis. The 3D structures of endoglucanase A and endo-1,4-beta xylanase was predicted using the Swiss Model. Based on the 3D structure analysis, the two enzymes isolated from goat's rumen metagenome are unique with only 56-59% similarities to those homologous proteins in protein data bank (PDB) meanwhile, the structures of the enzymes also displayed greater stability, and higher catalytic activity. CONCLUSIONS In summary, this study provided the database resources of bacterial metagenomes from goat's rumen fluid, including gene sequences with annotated functions and methods for gene isolation and over-expression of cellulolytic enzymes; and a wealth of genes in the metabolic pathways affecting food and nutrition of ruminant animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santosh Thapa
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd, Nashville, TN, 37209, USA
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2215 Garland Ave, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
| | - Suping Zhou
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd, Nashville, TN, 37209, USA
| | - Joshua O'Hair
- Department of Biological Sciences, College of Life & Physical Sciences, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd, Nashville, TN, 37209, USA
| | - Kamal Al Nasr
- Department of Computer Sciences, College of Engineering, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd, Nashville, TN, 37209, USA
| | - Alexander Ropelewski
- Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, 300 S. Craig Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
| | - Hui Li
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd, Nashville, TN, 37209, USA.
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Takahashi K, Kuwahara H, Horikawa Y, Izawa K, Kato D, Inagaki T, Yuki M, Ohkuma M, Hongoh Y. Emergence of putative energy parasites within Clostridia revealed by genome analysis of a novel endosymbiotic clade. THE ISME JOURNAL 2023; 17:1895-1906. [PMID: 37653056 PMCID: PMC10579323 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-023-01502-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2023] [Revised: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 08/23/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
The Clostridia is a dominant bacterial class in the guts of various animals and are considered to nutritionally contribute to the animal host. Here, we discovered clostridial endosymbionts of cellulolytic protists in termite guts, which have never been reported with evidence. We obtained (near-)complete genome sequences of three endosymbiotic Clostridia, each associated with a different parabasalid protist species with various infection rates: Trichonympha agilis, Pseudotrichonympha grassii, and Devescovina sp. All these protists are previously known to harbor permanently-associated, mutualistic Endomicrobia or Bacteroidales that supplement nitrogenous compounds. The genomes of the endosymbiotic Clostridia were small in size (1.0-1.3 Mbp) and exhibited signatures of an obligately-intracellular parasite, such as an extremely limited capability to synthesize amino acids, cofactors, and nucleotides and a disrupted glycolytic pathway with no known net ATP-generating system. Instead, the genomes encoded ATP/ADP translocase and, interestingly, regulatory proteins that are unique to eukaryotes in general and are possibly used to interfere with host cellular processes. These three genomes formed a clade with metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) derived from the guts of other animals, including human and ruminants, and the MAGs shared the characteristics of parasites. Gene flux analysis suggested that the acquisition of the ATP/ADP translocase gene in a common ancestor was probably key to the emergence of this parasitic clade. Taken together, we provide novel insights into the multilayered symbiotic system in the termite gut by adding the presence of parasitism and present an example of the emergence of putative energy parasites from a dominant gut bacterial clade.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazuki Takahashi
- School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan.
| | - Hirokazu Kuwahara
- School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Yutaro Horikawa
- School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Kazuki Izawa
- School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Daiki Kato
- School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Tatsuya Inagaki
- School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Masahiro Yuki
- Japan Collection of Microorganisms, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, Tsukuba, 305-0074, Japan
| | - Moriya Ohkuma
- Japan Collection of Microorganisms, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, Tsukuba, 305-0074, Japan
| | - Yuichi Hongoh
- School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan.
- Japan Collection of Microorganisms, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, Tsukuba, 305-0074, Japan.
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Marynowska M, Sillam-Dussès D, Untereiner B, Klimek D, Goux X, Gawron P, Roisin Y, Delfosse P, Calusinska M. A holobiont approach towards polysaccharide degradation by the highly compartmentalised gut system of the soil-feeding higher termite Labiotermes labralis. BMC Genomics 2023; 24:115. [PMID: 36922761 PMCID: PMC10018900 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-023-09224-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2022] [Accepted: 03/03/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Termites are among the most successful insects on Earth and can feed on a broad range of organic matter at various stages of decomposition. The termite gut system is often referred to as a micro-reactor and is a complex structure consisting of several components. It includes the host, its gut microbiome and fungal gardens, in the case of fungi-growing higher termites. The digestive tract of soil-feeding higher termites is characterised by radial and axial gradients of physicochemical parameters (e.g. pH, O2 and H2 partial pressure), and also differs in the density and structure of residing microbial communities. Although soil-feeding termites account for 60% of the known termite species, their biomass degradation strategies are far less known compared to their wood-feeding counterparts. RESULTS In this work, we applied an integrative multi-omics approach for the first time at the holobiont level to study the highly compartmentalised gut system of the soil-feeding higher termite Labiotermes labralis. We relied on 16S rRNA gene community profiling, metagenomics and (meta)transcriptomics to uncover the distribution of functional roles, in particular those related to carbohydrate hydrolysis, across different gut compartments and among the members of the bacterial community and the host itself. We showed that the Labiotermes gut was dominated by members of the Firmicutes phylum, whose abundance gradually decreased towards the posterior segments of the hindgut, in favour of Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Verrucomicrobia. Contrary to expectations, we observed that L. labralis gut microbes expressed a high diversity of carbohydrate active enzymes involved in cellulose and hemicelluloses degradation, making the soil-feeding termite gut a unique reservoir of lignocellulolytic enzymes with considerable biotechnological potential. We also evidenced that the host cellulases have different phylogenetic origins and structures, which is possibly translated into their different specificities towards cellulose. From an ecological perspective, we could speculate that the capacity to feed on distinct polymorphs of cellulose retained in soil might have enabled this termite species to widely colonise the different habitats of the Amazon basin. CONCLUSIONS Our study provides interesting insights into the distribution of the hydrolytic potential of the highly compartmentalised higher termite gut. The large number of expressed enzymes targeting the different lignocellulose components make the Labiotermes worker gut a relevant lignocellulose-valorising model to mimic by biomass conversion industries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martyna Marynowska
- Environmental Research and Innovation Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 41 Rue du Brill, L-4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg.,Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium
| | - David Sillam-Dussès
- University Sorbonne Paris Nord, Laboratory of Experimental and Comparative Ethology, LEEC, UR 4443, F-93430, Villetaneuse, France
| | - Boris Untereiner
- Environmental Research and Innovation Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 41 Rue du Brill, L-4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Dominika Klimek
- Environmental Research and Innovation Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 41 Rue du Brill, L-4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Xavier Goux
- Environmental Research and Innovation Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 41 Rue du Brill, L-4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Piotr Gawron
- Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, 6 Avenue du Swing, L-4367, Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Yves Roisin
- Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Philippe Delfosse
- Environmental Research and Innovation Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 41 Rue du Brill, L-4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg.,Vice-Rectorate for Research, University of Luxembourg, 2 Avenue Des Hauts-Fourneaux, L-4365, Esch-Sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Magdalena Calusinska
- Environmental Research and Innovation Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 41 Rue du Brill, L-4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg.
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Zhang C, Chen J, Wu Q, Xu B, Huang Z. The Gut Microbiota of Young Asian Elephants with Different Milk-Containing Diets. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:ani13050916. [PMID: 36899773 PMCID: PMC10000238 DOI: 10.3390/ani13050916] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Revised: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Evaluating the association between milk-containing diets and the microbiomes of young Asian elephants could assist establishing optimal breast milk supplementation to improve offspring survival rates. The microbiomes of young Asian elephants on different milk-containing diets (elephant milk only, elephant milk-plant mixed feed, and goat milk-plant mixed feed) were investigated using high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes and phylogenetic analysis. Microbial diversity was lower in the elephant milk-only diet group, with a high abundance of Proteobacteria compared to the mixed-feed diet groups. Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were dominant in all groups. Spirochaetae, Lachnospiraceae, and Rikenellaceae were abundant in the elephant milk-plant mixed-feed diet group, and Prevotellaceae was abundant in the goat milk-plant mixed-feed diet group. Membrane transport and cell motility metabolic pathways were significantly enriched in the elephant milk-plant mixed-feed diet group, whereas amino acid metabolism and signal transduction pathways were significantly enriched in the goat milk-plant mixed-feed diet group. The intestinal microbial community composition and associated functions varied significantly between diets. The results suggest that goat milk is not suitable for young elephants. Furthermore, we provide new research methods and directions regarding milk source evaluation to improve elephant survival, wellbeing, and conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chengbo Zhang
- Engineering Research Center of Sustainable Development and Utilization of Biomass Energy, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China
- Key Laboratory of Yunnan Provincial Education Department for Plateau Characteristic Food Enzymes, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China
| | - Junmin Chen
- Engineering Research Center of Sustainable Development and Utilization of Biomass Energy, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China
| | - Qian Wu
- Engineering Research Center of Sustainable Development and Utilization of Biomass Energy, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China
| | - Bo Xu
- Engineering Research Center of Sustainable Development and Utilization of Biomass Energy, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China
| | - Zunxi Huang
- Engineering Research Center of Sustainable Development and Utilization of Biomass Energy, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China
- Correspondence:
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10
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Sardar P, Šustr V, Chroňáková A, Lorenc F. Metatranscriptomic holobiont analysis of carbohydrate-active enzymes in the millipede Telodeinopus aoutii (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida). Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.931986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
As important decomposers of soil organic matter, millipedes contribute to lignocellulose decomposition and nutrient cycling. The degradation of lignocellulose requires the action of several carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) and, in most invertebrates, depends on the activity of mutualistic gut microorganisms. To address the question of the importance of the microbiota and endogenous (host) enzymes in digestive processes in millipedes, we analyzed metatranscriptomic data from the tropical millipede Telodeinopus aoutii at the holobiont level. Functional annotation included identification of expressed CAZymes (CAZy families and EC terms) in the host and its intestinal microbiota, foregut, midgut, and hindgut, compared to non-intestinal tissues. Most of the 175 CAZy families were expressed exclusively in the gut microbiota and more than 50% of these microbial families were expressed exclusively in the hindgut. The greatest diversity of expressed endogenous CAZymes from all gut sections was found in the midgut (77 families). Bacteria were the major microbial producers of CAZymes, Proteobacteria dominating in the midgut and Bacteriodetes with Firmicutes in the hindgut. The contribution of the eukaryotic microbiota to CAZymes production was negligible. Functional classification of expressed CAZy families confirmed a broad functional spectrum of CAZymes potentially expressed in the holobiont. Degradation of lignocellulose in the digestive tract of the millipede T. aoutii depends largely on bacterial enzymes expressed in the hindgut. Endogenous cellulases were not detected, except for the potentially cellulolytic family AA15, but an expression of cellulolytic enzymes of this family was not confirmed at the EC-number level. The midgut had the greatest diversity of expressed endogenous CAZymes, mainly amylases, indicating the importance of digesting α-glucosidases for the millipede. In contrast, bacterial lignocellulolytic enzymes are sparsely expressed here. The hindgut was the hotspot of microbial degradation of cellulose and hemicellulases. The gain of the millipede from the microbial lignocellulose degradation in the gut, and consequently the mutualistic status of the relationship between the millipede and its cellulolytic gut bacteria, depends on the ability of the millipede to take up microbial metabolites as nutrients through the hindgut wall. Enzymes expressed in the intestine can degrade all components of lignocellulose except lignin. Assuming that soil microbiota is partially degraded lignin in the millipede diet, T. aoutii can be considered a decomposer of soil organic matter relying primarily on its gut bacteria. The deposition of millipede fecal pellets containing an organic matter modified by the hindgut bacterial community could be of ecological significance.
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11
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Arora J, Kinjo Y, Šobotník J, Buček A, Clitheroe C, Stiblik P, Roisin Y, Žifčáková L, Park YC, Kim KY, Sillam-Dussès D, Hervé V, Lo N, Tokuda G, Brune A, Bourguignon T. The functional evolution of termite gut microbiota. MICROBIOME 2022; 10:78. [PMID: 35624491 PMCID: PMC9137090 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-022-01258-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2022] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Termites 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. RESULTS We 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. CONCLUSIONS Our 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. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jigyasa Arora
- Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan.
| | - Yukihiro Kinjo
- Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan
| | - Jan Šobotník
- Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Aleš Buček
- Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan
| | - Crystal Clitheroe
- Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan
| | - Petr Stiblik
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Yves Roisin
- Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Lucia Žifčáková
- Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan
| | - Yung Chul Park
- Division of Forest Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea
| | - Ki Yoon Kim
- Division of Forest Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea
| | - David Sillam-Dussès
- Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
- University Sorbonne Paris Nord, Laboratory of Experimental and Comparative Ethology, LEEC, UR 4443, Villetaneuse, France
| | - Vincent Hervé
- Research Group Insect Gut Microbiology and Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
| | - Nathan Lo
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Gaku Tokuda
- Tropical Biosphere Research Center, Center of Molecular Biosciences, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa, 903-0213, Japan
| | - Andreas Brune
- Research Group Insect Gut Microbiology and Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
| | - Thomas Bourguignon
- Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan.
- Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
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12
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Ahmad F, Yang GY, Liang SY, Zhou QH, Gaal HA, Mo JC. Multipartite symbioses in fungus-growing termites (Blattodea: Termitidae, Macrotermitinae) for the degradation of lignocellulose. INSECT SCIENCE 2021; 28:1512-1529. [PMID: 33236502 DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.12890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2020] [Revised: 10/06/2020] [Accepted: 10/19/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Fungus-growing termites are among the most successful herbivorous animals and improve crop productivity and soil fertility. A range of symbiotic organisms can be found inside their nests. However, interactions of termites with these symbionts are poorly understood. This review provides detailed information on the role of multipartite symbioses (between termitophiles, termites, fungi, and bacteria) in fungus-growing termites for lignocellulose degradation. The specific functions of each component in the symbiotic system are also discussed. Based on previous studies, we argue that the enzymatic contribution from the host, fungus, and bacteria greatly facilitates the decomposition of complex polysaccharide plant materials. The host-termitophile interaction protects the termite nest from natural enemies and maintains the stability of the microenvironment inside the colony.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farhan Ahmad
- Ministry of Agriculture Key Lab of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insect Pests, Institute of Insect Sciences, College of Agricultural and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Entomology Section, Central Cotton Research Institute, Sakrand, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sindh, Pakistan
| | - Gui-Ying Yang
- Ministry of Agriculture Key Lab of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insect Pests, Institute of Insect Sciences, College of Agricultural and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Shi-You Liang
- Ministry of Agriculture Key Lab of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insect Pests, Institute of Insect Sciences, College of Agricultural and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Qi-Huan Zhou
- Ministry of Agriculture Key Lab of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insect Pests, Institute of Insect Sciences, College of Agricultural and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hassan Ahmed Gaal
- Ministry of Agriculture Key Lab of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insect Pests, Institute of Insect Sciences, College of Agricultural and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Department of Entomology, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry, Somali National University, Mogadishu, Somalia
| | - Jian-Chu Mo
- Ministry of Agriculture Key Lab of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insect Pests, Institute of Insect Sciences, College of Agricultural and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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13
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Zhang Y, Thompson KN, Branck T, Yan Yan, Nguyen LH, Franzosa EA, Huttenhower C. Metatranscriptomics for the Human Microbiome and Microbial Community Functional Profiling. Annu Rev Biomed Data Sci 2021; 4:279-311. [PMID: 34465175 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biodatasci-031121-103035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Shotgun metatranscriptomics (MTX) is an increasingly practical way to survey microbial community gene function and regulation at scale. This review begins by summarizing the motivations for community transcriptomics and the history of the field. We then explore the principles, best practices, and challenges of contemporary MTX workflows: beginning with laboratory methods for isolation and sequencing of community RNA, followed by informatics methods for quantifying RNA features, and finally statistical methods for detecting differential expression in a community context. In thesecond half of the review, we survey important biological findings from the MTX literature, drawing examples from the human microbiome, other (nonhuman) host-associated microbiomes, and the environment. Across these examples, MTX methods prove invaluable for probing microbe-microbe and host-microbe interactions, the dynamics of energy harvest and chemical cycling, and responses to environmental stresses. We conclude with a review of open challenges in the MTX field, including making assays and analyses more robust, accessible, and adaptable to new technologies; deciphering roles for millions of uncharacterized microbial transcripts; and solving applied problems such as biomarker discovery and development of microbial therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yancong Zhang
- Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center and Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; , .,Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA
| | - Kelsey N Thompson
- Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center and Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; , .,Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA
| | - Tobyn Branck
- Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center and Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; , .,Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.,Department of Systems, Synthetic, and Quantitative Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | - Yan Yan
- Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center and Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; , .,Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA
| | - Long H Nguyen
- Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center and Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; , .,Division of Gastroenterology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.,Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02108, USA
| | - Eric A Franzosa
- Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center and Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; , .,Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA
| | - Curtis Huttenhower
- Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center and Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; , .,Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.,Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
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14
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Koch RA, Yoon GM, Aryal UK, Lail K, Amirebrahimi M, LaButti K, Lipzen A, Riley R, Barry K, Henrissat B, Grigoriev IV, Herr JR, Aime MC. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation in the reproductive structures of a basidiomycete fungus. Curr Biol 2021; 31:3905-3914.e6. [PMID: 34245690 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2021] [Revised: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 06/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Nitrogen (N) fixation is a driving force for the formation of symbiotic associations between N2-fixing bacteria and eukaryotes.1 Limited examples of these associations are known in fungi, and none with sexual structures of non-lichenized species.2-6 The basidiomycete Guyanagaster necrorhizus is a sequestrate fungus endemic to the Guiana Shield.7 Like the root rot-causing species in its sister genera Armillaria and Desarmillaria, G. necrorhizus sporocarps fruit from roots of decaying trees (Figures 1A-1C),8 and genome sequencing is consistent with observations that G. necrorhizus is a white-rotting decomposer. This species also represents the first documentation of an arthropod-dispersed sequestrate fungus. Numerous species of distantly related wood-feeding termites, which scavenge for N-rich food, feed on the mature spore-bearing tissue, or gleba, of G. necrorhizus. During feeding, mature spores adhere to termites for subsequent dispersal.9 Using chemical assays, isotope analysis, and high-throughput sequencing, we show that the sporocarps harbor actively N2-fixing Enterobacteriaceae species and that the N content within fungal tissue increases with maturation. Untargeted proteomic profiling suggests that ATP generation in the gleba is accomplished via fermentation. The use of fermentation-an anaerobic process-indicates that the sporocarp environment is anoxic, likely an adaptation to protect the oxygen-sensitive nitrogenase enzyme. Sporocarps also have a thick outer covering, possibly to limit oxygen diffusion. The enriched N content within mature sporocarps may offer a dietary inducement for termites in exchange for spore dispersal. These results show that the flexible metabolic capacity of fungi may facilitate N2-fixing associations, as well as higher-level organismal associations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel A Koch
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA; Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68520, USA.
| | - Gyeong Mee Yoon
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Uma K Aryal
- Purdue Proteomics Facility, Bindley Bioscience Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA; Department of Comparative Pathobiology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Kathleen Lail
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Mojgan Amirebrahimi
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Kurt LaButti
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Anna Lipzen
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Robert Riley
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Kerrie Barry
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Bernard Henrissat
- Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille 13288, France; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, USC1408 Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, Marseille 13288, France; Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
| | - Igor V Grigoriev
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Joshua R Herr
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68520, USA; Center for Plant Science Innovation, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68520, USA
| | - M Catherine Aime
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
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15
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Potential Role of Probiotics in Ameliorating Psoriasis by Modulating Gut Microbiota in Imiquimod-Induced Psoriasis-Like Mice. Nutrients 2021; 13:nu13062010. [PMID: 34207960 PMCID: PMC8230682 DOI: 10.3390/nu13062010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Psoriasis is an immune-mediated systemic disease that may be treated with probiotics. In this study, probiotic strains that could or could not decrease interleukin (IL)-17 levels were applied to imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis-like mice via oral administration. Bifidobacterium adolescentis CCFM667, B. breve CCFM1078, Lacticaseibacillus paracasei CCFM1074, and Limosilactobacillus reuteri CCFM1132 ameliorated psoriasis-like pathological characteristics and suppressed the release of IL-23/T helper cell 17 (Th17) axis-related inflammatory cytokines, whereas B. animalis CCFM1148, L. paracasei CCFM1147, and L. reuteri CCFM1040 neither alleviated the pathological characteristics nor reduced the levels of inflammatory cytokines. All effective strains increased the contents of short-chain fatty acids, which were negatively correlated with the levels of inflammatory cytokines. By performing 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the diversity of gut microbiota in psoriasis-like mice was found to decrease, but all effective strains made some specific changes to the composition of gut microbiota compared to the ineffective strains. Furthermore, except for B. breve CCFM1078, all other effective strains decreased the abundance of the family Rikenellaceae, which was positively correlated with psoriasis-like pathological characteristics and was negatively correlated with propionate levels. These findings demonstrated effects of strain-specificity, and how probiotics ameliorated psoriasis and provide new possibilities for the treatment of psoriasis.
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16
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Reichart NJ, Bowers RM, Woyke T, Hatzenpichler R. High Potential for Biomass-Degrading Enzymes Revealed by Hot Spring Metagenomics. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:668238. [PMID: 33968004 PMCID: PMC8098120 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.668238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Enzyme stability and activity at elevated temperatures are important aspects in biotechnological industries, such as the conversion of plant biomass into biofuels. In order to reduce the costs and increase the efficiency of biomass conversion, better enzymatic processing must be developed. Hot springs represent a treasure trove of underexplored microbiological and protein chemistry diversity. Herein, we conduct an exploratory study into the diversity of hot spring biomass-degrading potential. We describe the taxonomic diversity and carbohydrate active enzyme (CAZyme) coding potential in 71 publicly available metagenomic datasets from 58 globally distributed terrestrial geothermal features. Through taxonomic profiling, we detected a wide diversity of microbes unique to varying temperature and pH ranges. Biomass-degrading enzyme potential included all five classes of CAZymes and we described the presence or absence of genes encoding 19 glycosyl hydrolases hypothesized to be involved with cellulose, hemicellulose, and oligosaccharide degradation. Our results highlight hot springs as a promising system for the further discovery and development of thermo-stable biomass-degrading enzymes that can be applied toward generation of renewable biofuels. This study lays a foundation for future research to further investigate the functional diversity of hot spring biomass-degrading enzymes and their potential utility in biotechnological processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas J Reichart
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States.,Thermal Biology Institute, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States.,Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States
| | - Robert M Bowers
- Department of Energy, Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Tanja Woyke
- Department of Energy, Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Roland Hatzenpichler
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States.,Thermal Biology Institute, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States.,Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States
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17
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Vikram S, Arneodo JD, Calcagno J, Ortiz M, Mon ML, Etcheverry C, Cowan DA, Talia P. Diversity structure of the microbial communities in the guts of four neotropical termite species. PeerJ 2021; 9:e10959. [PMID: 33868801 PMCID: PMC8035897 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2020] [Accepted: 01/27/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The termite gut microbiome is dominated by lignocellulose degrading microorganisms. This study describes the intestinal microbiota of four Argentinian higher termite species with different feeding habits: Microcerotermes strunckii (hardwood), Nasutitermes corniger (softwood), Termes riograndensis (soil organic matter/grass) and Cornitermes cumulans (grass) by deep sequencing of amplified 16S rRNA and ITS genes. In addition, we have performed a taxonomic and gut community structure comparison incorporating into the analysis the previously reported microbiomes of additional termite species with varied diets. The bacterial phylum Spirochaetes was dominant in the guts of M. strunckii, N. corniger and C. cumulans, whereas Firmicutes predominated in the T. riograndensis gut microbiome. A single bacterial genus, Treponema (Spirochaetes), was dominant in all termite species, except for T. riograndensis. Both in our own sequenced samples and in the broader comparison, prokaryotic α-diversity was higher in the soil/grass feeders than in the wood feeders. Meanwhile, the β-diversity of prokaryotes and fungi was highly dissimilar among strict wood-feeders, whereas that of soil- and grass-feeders grouped more closely. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the only fungal phyla that could be identified in all gut samples, because of the lack of reference sequences in public databases. In summary, higher microbial diversity was recorded in termites with more versatile feeding sources, providing further evidence that diet, along with other factors (e.g., host taxonomy), influences the microbial community assembly in the termite gut.
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Affiliation(s)
- Surendra Vikram
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Joel D Arneodo
- Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular (IABIMO), Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Javier Calcagno
- Centro de Ciencias Naturales, Ambientales y Antropológicas, Universidad Maimonides (CCNAA), CABA, Argentina
| | - Maximiliano Ortiz
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Maria Laura Mon
- Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular (IABIMO), Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Clara Etcheverry
- Biología de los Invertebrados, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales y Agrimensura, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, Corrientes, Argentina
| | - Don A Cowan
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Paola Talia
- Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular (IABIMO), Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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18
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Scharf ME, Peterson BF. A Century of Synergy in Termite Symbiosis Research: Linking the Past with New Genomic Insights. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ENTOMOLOGY 2021; 66:23-43. [PMID: 33417825 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ento-022420-074746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Termites have long been studied for their symbiotic associations with gut microbes. In the late nineteenth century, this relationship was poorly understood and captured the interest of parasitologists such as Joseph Leidy; this research led to that of twentieth-century biologists and entomologists including Cleveland, Hungate, Trager, and Lüscher. Early insights came via microscopy, organismal, and defaunation studies, which led to descriptions of microbes present, descriptions of the roles of symbionts in lignocellulose digestion, and early insights into energy gas utilization by the host termite. Focus then progressed to culture-dependent microbiology and biochemical studies of host-symbiont complementarity, which revealed specific microhabitat requirements for symbionts and noncellulosic mechanisms of symbiosis (e.g., N2 fixation). Today, knowledge on termite symbiosis has accrued exponentially thanks to omic technologies that reveal symbiont identities, functions, and interdependence, as well as intricacies of host-symbiont complementarity. Moving forward, the merging of classical twentieth-century approaches with evolving omic tools should provide even deeper insights into host-symbiont interplay.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael E Scharf
- Department of Entomology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA;
| | - Brittany F Peterson
- Department of Biological Sciences, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, Illinois 62026, USA;
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Dahlhausen KE, Jospin G, Coil DA, Eisen JA, Wilkins LG. Isolation and sequence-based characterization of a koala symbiont: Lonepinella koalarum. PeerJ 2020; 8:e10177. [PMID: 33150080 PMCID: PMC7583611 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) are highly specialized herbivorous marsupials that feed almost exclusively on Eucalyptus leaves, which are known to contain varying concentrations of many different toxic chemical compounds. The literature suggests that Lonepinella koalarum, a bacterium in the Pasteurellaceae family, can break down some of these toxic chemical compounds. Furthermore, in a previous study, we identified L. koalarum as the most predictive taxon of koala survival during antibiotic treatment. Therefore, we believe that this bacterium may be important for koala health. Here, we isolated a strain of L. koalarum from a healthy koala female and sequenced its genome using a combination of short-read and long-read sequencing. We placed the genome assembly into a phylogenetic tree based on 120 genome markers using the Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB), which currently does not include any L. koalarum assemblies. Our genome assembly fell in the middle of a group of Haemophilus, Pasteurella and Basfia species. According to average nucleotide identity and a 16S rRNA gene tree, the closest relative of our isolate is L. koalarum strain Y17189. Then, we annotated the gene sequences and compared them to 55 closely related, publicly available genomes. Several genes that are known to be involved in carbohydrate metabolism could exclusively be found in L. koalarum relative to the other taxa in the pangenome, including glycoside hydrolase families GH2, GH31, GH32, GH43 and GH77. Among the predicted genes of L. koalarum were 79 candidates putatively involved in the degradation of plant secondary metabolites. Additionally, several genes coding for amino acid variants were found that had been shown to confer antibiotic resistance in other bacterial species against pulvomycin, beta-lactam antibiotics and the antibiotic efflux pump KpnH. In summary, this genetic characterization allows us to build hypotheses to explore the potentially beneficial role that L. koalarum might play in the koala intestinal microbiome. Characterizing and understanding beneficial symbionts at the whole genome level is important for the development of anti- and probiotic treatments for koalas, a highly threatened species due to habitat loss, wildfires, and high prevalence of Chlamydia infections.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Guillaume Jospin
- Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - David A. Coil
- Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Jonathan A. Eisen
- Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Laetitia G.E. Wilkins
- Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
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20
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Akinyemi FT, Ding J, Zhou H, Xu K, He C, Han C, Zheng Y, Luo H, Yang K, Gu C, Huang Q, Meng H. Dynamic distribution of gut microbiota during embryonic development in chicken. Poult Sci 2020; 99:5079-5090. [PMID: 32988546 PMCID: PMC7598139 DOI: 10.1016/j.psj.2020.06.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2020] [Revised: 05/27/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The gut microbiota is a complex ecological community and widely recognized in many aspects of research, but little is known on the relation between gut microbiota and embryonic development in chickens. The aim of this study was to explore the dynamic distribution of gut microbiota in chickens' embryos during stages of developments (chicken embryos that had incubated until day 3 [E3], day 12 [E12], and day 19 [E19]). Here, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed on the gut microbiota in chicken embryos across different developmental stages. Twenty-one phyla and 601 genera were present in chicken embryos, and 96 genera such as Ochrobactrum, Phyllobacterium, and Amycolatopsis were the core microbiota in the 3 stages of development. Second, 94 genera of microbes were found to change significantly between E3 and E12, and 143 genera significantly differed between E12 and E19 in chicken embryos (P < 0.05). Ochrobactrum and Amycolatopsis decreased with growth changes: E3 (30.4%), E12 (25.1%), and E19 (13.6%) and E3 (11.5%), E12 (7.4%), and E19 (5.6%), respectively. Contrarily, Phyllobacterium increased to 47.9% at E19, indicating the growing trend of microbial diversity among the embryos' development. Moreover, the principal component analysis showed a high level of similarities between E3 and E12 compared with E19, whereas the alpha analysis showed more diversity of gut microbiota at E19. Furthermore, the functional predictions showed that metabolic pathways such as energy metabolism and genetic information processing were significantly enriched on day 3 and day 12 in our study, suggesting their strong influence on growth, development, and immunity of chicken embryos. Our findings provide insights into the understanding of dynamic shifts of gut microbiota during chicken embryonic growth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fisayo T Akinyemi
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Jinmei Ding
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Hao Zhou
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Ke Xu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Chuan He
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Chengxiao Han
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Yuming Zheng
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Huaixi Luo
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Kaixuan Yang
- Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 201106, China
| | - Caiju Gu
- Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 201106, China
| | - Qizhong Huang
- Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 201106, China
| | - He Meng
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
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Marynowska M, Goux X, Sillam-Dussès D, Rouland-Lefèvre C, Halder R, Wilmes P, Gawron P, Roisin Y, Delfosse P, Calusinska M. Compositional and functional characterisation of biomass-degrading microbial communities in guts of plant fibre- and soil-feeding higher termites. MICROBIOME 2020; 8:96. [PMID: 32576253 PMCID: PMC7313118 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-020-00872-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2020] [Accepted: 05/20/2020] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Termites are among the most successful insect lineages on the globe and are responsible for providing numerous ecosystem services. They mainly feed on wood and other plant material at different stages of humification. Lignocellulose is often a principal component of such plant diet, and termites largely rely on their symbiotic microbiota and associated enzymes to decompose their food efficiently. While lower termites and their gut flagellates were given larger scientific attention in the past, the gut lignocellulolytic bacteria of higher termites remain less explored. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the structure and function of gut prokaryotic microbiomes from 11 higher termite genera representative of Syntermitinae, Apicotermitinae, Termitidae and Nasutitermitinae subfamilies, broadly grouped into plant fibre- and soil-feeding termite categories. RESULTS Despite the different compositional structures of the studied termite gut microbiomes, reflecting well the diet and host lineage, we observed a surprisingly high functional congruency between gut metatranscriptomes from both feeding groups. The abundance of transcripts encoding for carbohydrate active enzymes as well as expression and diversity profiles of assigned glycoside hydrolase families were also similar between plant fibre- and soil-feeding termites. Yet, dietary imprints highlighted subtle metabolic differences specific to each feeding category. Roughly, 0.18% of de novo re-constructed gene transcripts were shared between the different termite gut microbiomes, making each termite gut a unique reservoir of genes encoding for potentially industrially applicable enzymes, e.g. relevant to biomass degradation. Taken together, we demonstrated the functional equivalence in microbial populations across different termite hosts. CONCLUSIONS Our results provide valuable insight into the bacterial component of the termite gut system and significantly expand the inventory of termite prokaryotic genes participating in the deconstruction of plant biomass. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martyna Marynowska
- Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 41 rue du Brill, L-4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg
- Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 avenue F.D. Roosevelt, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Xavier Goux
- Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 41 rue du Brill, L-4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - David Sillam-Dussès
- Université Paris 13-Sorbonne Paris Cité, LEEC, EA 4443, Villetaneuse, France
| | - Corinne Rouland-Lefèvre
- iEES-Paris, Institute of Research for Development, Sorbonne Universités, U 242, Bondy, France
| | - Rashi Halder
- Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, 7 avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, L-4362, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Paul Wilmes
- Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, 7 avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, L-4362, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Piotr Gawron
- Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, 7 avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, L-4362, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Yves Roisin
- Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 avenue F.D. Roosevelt, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Philippe Delfosse
- Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 41 rue du Brill, L-4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg
- University of Luxembourg, 2 avenue de l'Université, L-4365, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Magdalena Calusinska
- Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 41 rue du Brill, L-4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg.
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Integrative omics analysis of the termite gut system adaptation to Miscanthus diet identifies lignocellulose degradation enzymes. Commun Biol 2020; 3:275. [PMID: 32483294 PMCID: PMC7264248 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-1004-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2019] [Accepted: 05/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Miscanthus sp. biomass could satisfy future biorefinery value chains. However, its use is largely untapped due to high recalcitrance. The termite and its gut microbiome are considered the most efficient lignocellulose degrading system in nature. Here, we investigate at holobiont level the dynamic adaptation of Cortaritermes sp. to imposed Miscanthus diet, with a long-term objective of overcoming lignocellulose recalcitrance. We use an integrative omics approach combined with enzymatic characterisation of carbohydrate active enzymes from termite gut Fibrobacteres and Spirochaetae. Modified gene expression profiles of gut bacteria suggest a shift towards utilisation of cellulose and arabinoxylan, two main components of Miscanthus lignocellulose. Low identity of reconstructed microbial genomes to closely related species supports the hypothesis of a strong phylogenetic relationship between host and its gut microbiome. This study provides a framework for better understanding the complex lignocellulose degradation by the higher termite gut system and paves a road towards its future bioprospecting. Through metagenomics and metatranscriptomics analyses, Calusinska et al. investigate the adaptation of the gut microbiome of the termite Cortaritermes sp. to a diet of Miscanthus grass. This work is a starting point for the identification of lignocellulose-degradation enzymes for potential biotechnology applications.
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Domínguez-Santos R, Pérez-Cobas AE, Artacho A, Castro JA, Talón I, Moya A, García-Ferris C, Latorre A. Unraveling Assemblage, Functions and Stability of the Gut Microbiota of Blattella germanica by Antibiotic Treatment. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:487. [PMID: 32269557 PMCID: PMC7109288 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/05/2020] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Symbiosis between prokaryotes and eukaryotes is a widespread phenomenon that has contributed to the evolution of eukaryotes. In cockroaches, two types of symbionts coexist: an endosymbiont in the fat body (Blattabacterium), and a rich gut microbiota. The transmission mode of Blattabacterium is vertical, while the gut microbiota of a new generation is mainly formed by bacterial species present in feces. We have carried out a metagenomic analysis of Blattella germanica populations, treated and non-treated with two antibiotics (vancomycin and ampicillin) over two generations to (1) determine the core of bacterial communities and potential functions of the gut microbiota and (2) to gain insights into the mechanisms of resistance and resilience of the gut microbiota. Our results indicate that the composition and functions of the bacteria were affected by treatment, more severely in the case of vancomycin. Further results demonstrated that in an untreated second-generation population that comes from antibiotic-treated first-generation, the microbiota is not yet stabilized at nymphal stages but can fully recover in adults when feces of a control population were added to the diet. This signifies the existence of a stable core in either composition and functions in lab-reared populations. The high microbiota diversity as well as the observed functional redundancy point toward the microbiota of cockroach hindguts as a robust ecosystem that can recover from perturbations, with recovery being faster when feces are added to the diet.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ana Elena Pérez-Cobas
- Institut Pasteur, Biologie des Bactéries Intracellulaires, Paris, France
- CNRS UMR 3525, Paris, France
| | - Alejandro Artacho
- Genomics and Health Area, Foundation for the Promotion of Sanitary and Biomedical Research, Valencia, Spain
| | - José A. Castro
- Unit of Genetics, Department of Biology, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, Spain
| | - Irene Talón
- Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Valencia and CSIC, Valencia, Spain
| | - Andrés Moya
- Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Valencia and CSIC, Valencia, Spain
- Genomics and Health Area, Foundation for the Promotion of Sanitary and Biomedical Research, Valencia, Spain
| | - Carlos García-Ferris
- Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Valencia and CSIC, Valencia, Spain
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| | - Amparo Latorre
- Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Valencia and CSIC, Valencia, Spain
- Genomics and Health Area, Foundation for the Promotion of Sanitary and Biomedical Research, Valencia, Spain
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Jing TZ, Qi FH, Wang ZY. Most dominant roles of insect gut bacteria: digestion, detoxification, or essential nutrient provision? MICROBIOME 2020; 8:38. [PMID: 32178739 PMCID: PMC7077154 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-020-00823-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 117] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2019] [Accepted: 03/05/2020] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The insect gut microbiota has been shown to contribute to the host's digestion, detoxification, development, pathogen resistance, and physiology. However, there is poor information about the ranking of these roles. Most of these results were obtained with cultivable bacteria, whereas the bacterial physiology may be different between free-living and midgut-colonizing bacteria. In this study, we provided both proteomic and genomic evidence on the ranking of the roles of gut bacteria by investigating the anal droplets from a weevil, Cryptorhynchus lapathi. RESULTS The gut lumen and the anal droplets showed qualitatively and quantitatively different subsets of bacterial communities. The results of 16S rRNA sequencing showed that the gut lumen is dominated by Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, whereas the anal droplets are dominated by Proteobacteria. From the anal droplets, enzymes involved in 31 basic roles that belong to 7 super roles were identified by Q-TOF MS. The cooperation between the weevil and its gut bacteria was determined by reconstructing community pathway maps, which are defined in this study. A score was used to rank the gut bacterial roles. The results from the proteomic data indicate that the most dominant role of gut bacteria is amino acid biosynthesis, followed by protein digestion, energy metabolism, vitamin biosynthesis, lipid digestion, plant secondary metabolite (PSM) degradation, and carbohydrate digestion, while the order from the genomic data is amino acid biosynthesis, vitamin biosynthesis, lipid digestion, energy metabolism, protein digestion, PSM degradation, and carbohydrate digestion. The PCA results showed that the gut bacteria form functional groups from the point of view of either the basic role or super role, and the MFA results showed that there are functional variations among gut bacteria. In addition, the variations between the proteomic and genomic data, analyzed with the HMFA method from the point of view of either the bacterial community or individual bacterial species, are presented. CONCLUSION The most dominant role of gut bacteria is essential nutrient provisioning, followed by digestion and detoxification. The weevil plays a pioneering role in diet digestion and mainly digests macromolecules into smaller molecules which are then mainly digested by gut bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tian-Zhong Jing
- School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040 China
| | - Feng-Hui Qi
- School of Life Sciences, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040 China
| | - Zhi-Ying Wang
- School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040 China
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Neotropical termite microbiomes as sources of novel plant cell wall degrading enzymes. Sci Rep 2020; 10:3864. [PMID: 32123275 PMCID: PMC7052144 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-60850-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2019] [Accepted: 12/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, we used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to characterise the microbial metabolic potential for lignocellulose transformation in the gut of two colonies of Argentine higher termite species with different feeding habits, Cortaritermes fulviceps and Nasutitermes aquilinus. Our goal was to assess the microbial community compositions and metabolic capacity, and to identify genes involved in lignocellulose degradation. Individuals from both termite species contained the same five dominant bacterial phyla (Spirochaetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Fibrobacteres and Bacteroidetes) although with different relative abundances. However, detected functional capacity varied, with C. fulviceps (a grass-wood-feeder) gut microbiome samples containing more genes related to amino acid metabolism, whereas N. aquilinus (a wood-feeder) gut microbiome samples were enriched in genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism and cellulose degradation. The C. fulviceps gut microbiome was enriched specifically in genes coding for debranching- and oligosaccharide-degrading enzymes. These findings suggest an association between the primary food source and the predicted categories of the enzymes present in the gut microbiomes of each species. To further investigate the termite microbiomes as sources of biotechnologically relevant glycosyl hydrolases, a putative GH10 endo-β-1,4-xylanase, Xyl10E, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Functional analysis of the recombinant metagenome-derived enzyme showed high specificity towards beechwood xylan (288.1 IU/mg), with the optimum activity at 50 °C and a pH-activity range from 5 to 10. These characteristics suggest that Xy110E may be a promising candidate for further development in lignocellulose deconstruction applications.
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Zeng W, Liu B, Zhong J, Li Q, Li Z. A Natural High-Sugar Diet Has Different Effects on the Prokaryotic Community Structures of Lower and Higher Termites (Blattaria). ENVIRONMENTAL ENTOMOLOGY 2020; 49:21-32. [PMID: 31782953 DOI: 10.1093/ee/nvz130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The lignocellulosic digestive symbiosis in termites is a dynamic survival adaptation system. While the contribution of hereditary and habitat factors to the development of the symbiotic bacterial community of termites had been confirmed, the manner in which these factors affect functional synergism among different bacterial lineages has still not been fully elucidated. Therefore, the 16S rRNA gene libraries of Odontotermes formosanus Shiraki (Blattodea: Termitidae) and Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae) sampled from sugarcane fields (high sugar) or pine tree forests (no free sugar) were sequenced. The results verify that the prokaryotic community structures of termites could be significantly reshaped by native dietary isolation within a species. Although the most dominant phyla are convergent in all samples, their relative abundances in these two termite species exhibited a reverse variation pattern when the termite hosts were fed on the high-sugar diet. Furthermore, we showed that the taxonomic composition of the dominant phyla at the family or genus level differentiate depending on the diet and the host phylogeny. We hypothesize that the flexible bacterial assemblages at low taxonomic level might exert variable functional collaboration to accommodate to high-sugar diet. In addition, the functional predictions of Tax4Fun suggest a stable metabolic functional structure of the microbial communities of the termites in both different diet habitats and taxonomy. We propose that the symbiotic bacterial community in different host termites developed a different functional synergistic pattern, which may be essential to maintain the stability of the overall metabolic function for the survival of termites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenhui Zeng
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources, Guangzhou, China
| | - Bingrong Liu
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources, Guangzhou, China
| | - Junhong Zhong
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qiujian Li
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhiqiang Li
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources, Guangzhou, China
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Hervé V, Liu P, Dietrich C, Sillam-Dussès D, Stiblik P, Šobotník J, Brune A. Phylogenomic analysis of 589 metagenome-assembled genomes encompassing all major prokaryotic lineages from the gut of higher termites. PeerJ 2020; 8:e8614. [PMID: 32095380 PMCID: PMC7024585 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2019] [Accepted: 01/21/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
"Higher" termites have been able to colonize all tropical and subtropical regions because of their ability to digest lignocellulose with the aid of their prokaryotic gut microbiota. Over the last decade, numerous studies based on 16S rRNA gene amplicon libraries have largely described both the taxonomy and structure of the prokaryotic communities associated with termite guts. Host diet and microenvironmental conditions have emerged as the main factors structuring the microbial assemblages in the different gut compartments. Additionally, these molecular inventories have revealed the existence of termite-specific clusters that indicate coevolutionary processes in numerous prokaryotic lineages. However, for lack of representative isolates, the functional role of most lineages remains unclear. We reconstructed 589 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from the different gut compartments of eight higher termite species that encompass 17 prokaryotic phyla. By iteratively building genome trees for each clade, we significantly improved the initial automated assignment, frequently up to the genus level. We recovered MAGs from most of the termite-specific clusters in the radiation of, for example, Planctomycetes, Fibrobacteres, Bacteroidetes, Euryarchaeota, Bathyarchaeota, Spirochaetes, Saccharibacteria, and Firmicutes, which to date contained only few or no representative genomes. Moreover, the MAGs included abundant members of the termite gut microbiota. This dataset represents the largest genomic resource for arthropod-associated microorganisms available to date and contributes substantially to populating the tree of life. More importantly, it provides a backbone for studying the metabolic potential of the termite gut microbiota, including the key members involved in carbon and nitrogen biogeochemical cycles, and important clues that may help cultivating representatives of these understudied clades.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Hervé
- Research Group Insect Gut Microbiology and Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
| | - Pengfei Liu
- Research Group Insect Gut Microbiology and Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
| | - Carsten Dietrich
- Research Group Insect Gut Microbiology and Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
| | - David Sillam-Dussès
- Laboratory of Experimental and Comparative Ethology EA 4443, Université Paris 13, Villetaneuse, France
| | - Petr Stiblik
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jan Šobotník
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Andreas Brune
- Research Group Insect Gut Microbiology and Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
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Species-wide Metabolic Interaction Network for Understanding Natural Lignocellulose Digestion in Termite Gut Microbiota. Sci Rep 2019; 9:16329. [PMID: 31705042 PMCID: PMC6841923 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-52843-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2019] [Accepted: 10/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The structural complexity of lignocellulosic biomass hinders the extraction of cellulose, and it has remained a challenge for decades in the biofuel production process. However, wood-feeding organisms like termite have developed an efficient natural lignocellulolytic system with the help of specialized gut microbial symbionts. Despite having an enormous amount of high-throughput metagenomic data, specific contributions of each individual microbe to achieve this lignocellulolytic functionality remains unclear. The metabolic cross-communication and interdependence that drives the community structure inside the gut microbiota are yet to be explored. We have contrived a species-wide metabolic interaction network of the termite gut-microbiome to have a system-level understanding of metabolic communication. Metagenomic data of Nasutitermes corniger have been analyzed to identify microbial communities in different gut segments. A comprehensive metabolic cross-feeding network of 205 microbes and 265 metabolites was developed using published experimental data. Reconstruction of inter-species influence network elucidated the role of 37 influential microbes to maintain a stable and functional microbiota. Furthermore, in order to understand the natural lignocellulose digestion inside N. corniger gut, the metabolic functionality of each influencer was assessed, which further elucidated 15 crucial hemicellulolytic microbes and their corresponding enzyme machinery.
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Waidele L, Korb J, Voolstra CR, Dedeine F, Staubach F. Ecological specificity of the metagenome in a set of lower termite species supports contribution of the microbiome to adaptation of the host. Anim Microbiome 2019; 1:13. [PMID: 33499940 PMCID: PMC7807685 DOI: 10.1186/s42523-019-0014-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2019] [Accepted: 09/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Elucidating the interplay between hosts and their microbiomes in ecological adaptation has become a central theme in evolutionary biology. A textbook example of microbiome-mediated adaptation is the adaptation of lower termites to a wood-based diet, as they depend on their gut microbiome to digest wood. Lower termites have further adapted to different life types. Termites of the wood-dwelling life type never leave their nests and feed on a uniform diet. Termites of the foraging life type forage for food outside the nest and have access to other nutrients. Here we sought to investigate whether the microbiome that is involved in food substrate breakdown and nutrient acquisition might contribute to adaptation to these dietary differences. We reasoned that this should leave ecological imprints on the microbiome. Results We investigated the protist and bacterial microbiomes of a total of 29 replicate colonies from five termite species, covering both life types, using metagenomic shotgun sequencing. The microbiome of wood-dwelling species with a uniform wood diet was enriched for genes involved in lignocellulose degradation. Furthermore, metagenomic patterns suggest that the microbiome of wood-dwelling species relied primarily on direct fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, while the microbiome of foraging species entailed the necessary pathways to utilize nitrogen in the form of nitrate for example from soil. Conclusion Our findings are consistent with the notion that the microbiome of wood-dwelling species bears an imprint of its specialization on degrading a uniform wood diet, while the microbiome of the foraging species might reflect its adaption to access growth limiting nutrients from more diverse sources. This supports the idea that specific subsets of functions encoded by the microbiome can contribute to host adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Waidele
- Biologie I, University of Freiburg, Hauptstr. 1, 79104, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Judith Korb
- Biologie I, University of Freiburg, Hauptstr. 1, 79104, Freiburg, Germany
| | | | - Franck Dedeine
- Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte, UMR 7261, CNRS - Université de Tours, 37200, Tours, France
| | - Fabian Staubach
- Biologie I, University of Freiburg, Hauptstr. 1, 79104, Freiburg, Germany.
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Hu H, da Costa RR, Pilgaard B, Schiøtt M, Lange L, Poulsen M. Fungiculture in Termites Is Associated with a Mycolytic Gut Bacterial Community. mSphere 2019; 4:e00165-19. [PMID: 31092601 PMCID: PMC6520439 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00165-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2019] [Accepted: 04/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Termites forage on a range of substrates, and it has been suggested that diet shapes the composition and function of termite gut bacterial communities. Through comparative analyses of gut metagenomes in nine termite species with distinct diets, we characterize bacterial community compositions and use peptide-based functional annotation method to determine biomass-degrading enzymes and the bacterial taxa that encode them. We find that fungus-growing termite guts have relatively more fungal cell wall-degrading enzyme genes, while wood-feeding termite gut communities have relatively more plant cell wall-degrading enzyme genes. Interestingly, wood-feeding termite gut bacterial genes code for abundant chitinolytic enzymes, suggesting that fungal biomass within the decaying wood likely contributes to gut bacterial or termite host nutrition. Across diets, the dominant biomass-degrading enzymes are predominantly coded for by the most abundant bacterial taxa, suggesting tight links between diet and gut community composition, with the most marked difference being the communities coding for the mycolytic capacity of the fungus-growing termite gut.IMPORTANCE Understanding functional capacities of gut microbiomes is important to improve our understanding of symbiotic associations. Here, we use peptide-based functional annotation to show that the gut microbiomes of fungus-farming termites code for a wealth of enzymes that likely target the fungal diet the termites eat. Comparisons to other termites showed that fungus-growing termite guts have relatively more fungal cell wall-degrading enzyme genes, whereas wood-feeding termite gut communities have relatively more plant cell wall-degrading enzyme genes. Across termites with different diets, the dominant biomass-degrading enzymes are predominantly coded for by the most abundant bacterial taxa, suggesting tight links between diet and gut community compositions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haofu Hu
- Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Rafael Rodrigues da Costa
- Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Bo Pilgaard
- Department of Bioengineering, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Morten Schiøtt
- Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Lene Lange
- Department of Bioengineering, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Michael Poulsen
- Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Agamennone V, Le NG, van Straalen NM, Brouwer A, Roelofs D. Antimicrobial activity and carbohydrate metabolism in the bacterial metagenome of the soil-living invertebrate Folsomia candida. Sci Rep 2019; 9:7308. [PMID: 31086216 PMCID: PMC6513849 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-43828-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2018] [Accepted: 04/27/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The microbiome associated with an animal's gut and other organs is considered an integral part of its ecological functions and adaptive capacity. To better understand how microbial communities influence activities and capacities of the host, we need more information on the functions that are encoded in a microbiome. Until now, the information about soil invertebrate microbiomes is mostly based on taxonomic characterization, achieved through culturing and amplicon sequencing. Using shotgun sequencing and various bioinformatics approaches we explored functions in the bacterial metagenome associated with the soil invertebrate Folsomia candida, an established model organism in soil ecology with a fully sequenced, high-quality genome assembly. Our metagenome analysis revealed a remarkable diversity of genes associated with antimicrobial activity and carbohydrate metabolism. The microbiome also contains several homologs to F. candida genes that were previously identified as candidates for horizontal gene transfer (HGT). We suggest that the carbohydrate- and antimicrobial-related functions encoded by Folsomia's metagenome play a role in the digestion of recalcitrant soil-born polysaccharides and the defense against pathogens, thereby significantly contributing to the adaptation of these animals to life in the soil. Furthermore, the transfer of genes from the microbiome may constitute an important source of new functions for the springtail.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valeria Agamennone
- Department of Ecological Science, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- Department of Microbiology and Systems Biology, TNO, Zeist, The Netherlands.
| | - Ngoc Giang Le
- Department of Ecological Science, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Institute of Biotechnology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Nico M van Straalen
- Department of Ecological Science, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Dick Roelofs
- Department of Ecological Science, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Grieco MB, Lopes FAC, Oliveira LS, Tschoeke DA, Popov CC, Thompson CC, Gonçalves LC, Constantino R, Martins OB, Kruger RH, de Souza W, Thompson FL. Metagenomic Analysis of the Whole Gut Microbiota in Brazilian Termitidae Termites Cornitermes cumulans, Cyrilliotermes strictinasus, Syntermes dirus, Nasutitermes jaraguae, Nasutitermes aquilinus, Grigiotermes bequaerti, and Orthognathotermes mirim. Curr Microbiol 2019; 76:687-697. [DOI: 10.1007/s00284-019-01662-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2018] [Accepted: 01/22/2019] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
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Cui J, Mai G, Wang Z, Liu Q, Zhou Y, Ma Y, Liu C. Metagenomic Insights Into a Cellulose-Rich Niche Reveal Microbial Cooperation in Cellulose Degradation. Front Microbiol 2019; 10:618. [PMID: 30984144 PMCID: PMC6447707 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2018] [Accepted: 03/11/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer mainly produced by plants in nature. It is insoluble and highly resistant to enzymatic hydrolysis. Cellulolytic microorganisms that are capable of producing a battery of related enzymes play an important role in recycling cellulose-rich plant biomass. Effective cellulose degradation by multiple synergic microorganisms has been observed within a defined microbial consortium in the lab culture. Metagenomic analysis may enable us to understand how microbes cooperate in cellulose degradation in a more complex microbial free-living ecosystem in nature. Results Here we investigated a typical cellulose-rich and alkaline niche where constituent microbes survive through inter-genera cooperation in cellulose utilization. The niche has been generated in an ancient paper-making plant, which has served as an isolated habitat for over 7 centuries. Combined amplicon-based sequencing of 16S rRNA genes and metagenomic sequencing, our analyses showed a microbial composition with 6 dominant genera including Cloacibacterium, Paludibacter, Exiguobacterium, Acetivibrio, Tolumonas, and Clostridium in this cellulose-rich niche; the composition is distinct from other cellulose-rich niches including a modern paper mill, bamboo soil, wild giant panda guts, and termite hindguts. In total, 11,676 genes of 96 glucoside hydrolase (GH) families, as well as 1,744 genes of carbohydrate transporters were identified, and modeling analysis of two representative genes suggested that these glucoside hydrolases likely evolved to adapt to alkaline environments. Further reconstruction of the microbial draft genomes by binning the assembled contigs predicted a mutualistic interaction between the dominant microbes regarding the cellulolytic process in the niche, with Paludibacter and Clostridium acting as helpers that produce endoglucanases, and Cloacibacterium, Exiguobacterium, Acetivibrio, and Tolumonas being beneficiaries that cross-feed on the cellodextrins by oligosaccharide uptake. Conclusion The analysis of the key genes involved in cellulose degradation and reconstruction of the microbial draft genomes by binning the assembled contigs predicted a mutualistic interaction based on public goods regarding the cellulolytic process in the niche, suggesting that in the studied microbial consortium, free-living bacteria likely survive on each other by acquisition and exchange of metabolites. Knowledge gained from this study will facilitate the design of complex microbial communities with a better performance in industrial bioprocesses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinming Cui
- Institute of Synthetic Biology - Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.,Guangzhou Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.,Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
| | - Guoqin Mai
- Institute of Synthetic Biology - Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.,Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
| | - Zuowei Wang
- Guangzhou Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.,Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
| | - Quan Liu
- Institute of Synthetic Biology - Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.,Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yan Zhou
- Institute of Synthetic Biology - Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.,Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yingfei Ma
- Institute of Synthetic Biology - Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.,Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
| | - Chenli Liu
- Institute of Synthetic Biology - Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.,Guangzhou Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.,Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
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Ren L, Holzknecht RA, Holzknecht ZE, Kotzé SH, Bowles DE, Lin SS, McKenney EA, Parker W. A mole rat's gut microbiota suggests selective influence of diet on microbial niche space and evolution. Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 2019; 244:471-483. [PMID: 30760029 DOI: 10.1177/1535370219828703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
IMPACT STATEMENT The composition of the microbiota is of critical importance for health and disease, and is receiving increased scientific and medical scrutiny. Of particular interest is the role of changing diets as a function of agriculture and, perhaps to an even greater extent, modern food processing. To probe the connection between diet and the gut's microbial community, the microbiota from a mole rat, a rodent with a relatively unusual diet, was analyzed in detail, and the microbes found were compared with previously identified organisms. The results show evidence of an adaptive radiation of some microbial clades, but relative stability in others. This suggests that the microbiota, like the genome, carries with it housekeeping components as well as other components which can evolve rapidly when the environment changes. This study provides a very broad view of the niche space in the gut and how factors such as diet might influence that niche space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda Ren
- 1 Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Robert A Holzknecht
- 1 Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Zoie E Holzknecht
- 1 Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Sanet H Kotzé
- 2 Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town 8000, South Africa
| | - Dawn E Bowles
- 1 Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Shu S Lin
- 1 Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Erin A McKenney
- 3 Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - William Parker
- 1 Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
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Utami YD, Kuwahara H, Igai K, Murakami T, Sugaya K, Morikawa T, Nagura Y, Yuki M, Deevong P, Inoue T, Kihara K, Lo N, Yamada A, Ohkuma M, Hongoh Y. Genome analyses of uncultured TG2/ZB3 bacteria in 'Margulisbacteria' specifically attached to ectosymbiotic spirochetes of protists in the termite gut. THE ISME JOURNAL 2019; 13:455-467. [PMID: 30287885 PMCID: PMC6331581 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-018-0297-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2018] [Revised: 09/20/2018] [Accepted: 09/25/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
We investigated the phylogenetic diversity, localisation and metabolism of an uncultured bacterial clade, Termite Group 2 (TG2), or ZB3, in the termite gut, which belongs to the candidate phylum 'Margulisbacteria'. We performed 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing analysis and detected TG2/ZB3 sequences in 40 out of 72 termite and cockroach species, which exclusively constituted a monophyletic cluster in the TG2/ZB3 clade. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation analysis in lower termites revealed that these bacteria are specifically attached to ectosymbiotic spirochetes of oxymonad gut protists. Draft genomes of four TG2/ZB3 phylotypes from a small number of bacterial cells were reconstructed, and functional genome analysis suggested that these bacteria hydrolyse and ferment cellulose/cellobiose to H2, CO2, acetate and ethanol. We also assembled a draft genome for a partner Treponema spirochete and found that it encoded genes for reductive acetogenesis from H2 and CO2. We hypothesise that the TG2/ZB3 bacteria we report here are commensal or mutualistic symbionts of the spirochetes, exploiting the spirochetes as H2 sinks. For these bacteria, we propose a novel genus, 'Candidatus Termititenax', which represents a hitherto uncharacterised class-level clade in 'Margulisbacteria'. Our findings add another layer, i.e., cellular association between bacteria, to the multi-layered symbiotic system in the termite gut.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuniar Devi Utami
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Hirokazu Kuwahara
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Katsura Igai
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Takumi Murakami
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Kaito Sugaya
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Takahiro Morikawa
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Yuichi Nagura
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Masahiro Yuki
- Japan Collection of Microorganisms, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, Tsukuba, 305-0074, Japan
| | - Pinsurang Deevong
- Department of Microbiology, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand
| | - Tetsushi Inoue
- Graduate School of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, 852-8521, Japan
| | - Kumiko Kihara
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| | - Nathan Lo
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Akinori Yamada
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
- Graduate School of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, 852-8521, Japan
| | - Moriya Ohkuma
- Japan Collection of Microorganisms, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, Tsukuba, 305-0074, Japan
| | - Yuichi Hongoh
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan.
- Japan Collection of Microorganisms, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, Tsukuba, 305-0074, Japan.
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Liu N, Li H, Chevrette MG, Zhang L, Cao L, Zhou H, Zhou X, Zhou Z, Pope PB, Currie CR, Huang Y, Wang Q. Functional metagenomics reveals abundant polysaccharide-degrading gene clusters and cellobiose utilization pathways within gut microbiota of a wood-feeding higher termite. THE ISME JOURNAL 2019; 13:104-117. [PMID: 30116044 PMCID: PMC6298952 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-018-0255-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2018] [Revised: 07/16/2018] [Accepted: 07/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Plant cell-wall polysaccharides constitute the most abundant but recalcitrant organic carbon source in nature. Microbes residing in the digestive tract of herbivorous bilaterians are particularly efficient at depolymerizing polysaccharides into fermentable sugars and play a significant support role towards their host's lifestyle. Here, we combine large-scale functional screening of fosmid libraries, shotgun sequencing, and biochemical assays to interrogate the gut microbiota of the wood-feeding "higher" termite Globitermes brachycerastes. A number of putative polysaccharide utilization gene clusters were identified with multiple fibrolytic genes. Our large-scale functional screening of 50,000 fosmid clones resulted in 464 clones demonstrating plant polysaccharide-degrading activities, including 267 endoglucanase-, 24 exoglucanase-, 72 β-glucosidase-, and 101 endoxylanase-positive clones. We sequenced 173 functionally active clones and identified ~219 genes encoding putative carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) targeting cellulose, hemicellulose and pectin. Further analyses revealed that 68 of 154 contigs encode one or more CAZyme, which includes 35 examples of putative saccharolytic operons, suggesting that clustering of CAZymes is common in termite gut microbial inhabitants. Biochemical characterization of a representative xylanase cluster demonstrated that constituent enzymes exhibited complementary physicochemical properties and saccharolytic capabilities. Furthermore, diverse cellobiose-metabolizing enzymes include β-glucosidases, cellobiose phosphorylases, and phopho-6-β-glucosidases were identified and functionally verified, indicating that the termite gut micro-ecosystem utilizes diverse metabolic pathways to interconnect hydrolysis and central metabolism. Collectively, these results provide an in-depth view of the adaptation and digestive strategies employed by gut microbiota within this tiny-yet-efficient host-associated ecosystem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ning Liu
- Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
- Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
- Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hongjie Li
- Department of Energy Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Wisconsin Energy Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
- Department Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Marc G Chevrette
- Department Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
- Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Lei Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Lin Cao
- Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Haokui Zhou
- Institute for Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
| | - Xuguo Zhou
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA
| | - Zhihua Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Phillip B Pope
- Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
| | - Cameron R Currie
- Department of Energy Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Wisconsin Energy Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
- Department Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Yongping Huang
- Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
| | - Qian Wang
- Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
- Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
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Gut microbiota dynamics and functionality in Reticulitermes grassei after a 7-day dietary shift and ciprofloxacin treatment. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0209789. [PMID: 30590374 PMCID: PMC6307977 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2018] [Accepted: 12/11/2018] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Gut microbial structure in animals depends on the host, dietary habits and local environment. A random event, dietary change or antibiotic treatment may alter the gut environment with possible repercussions for the bacterial community composition and functionality and ultimately host fitness. The present study was focused on the composition, structure and functionality of gut microbiota in Reticulitermes grassei and the data obtained was compared with sequence surveys of three other Reticulitermes species. Each Reticulitermes species had a significantly different bacterial gut microbiota (pairwise significance tests using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test), but a similar pattern of distribution (P-test in weighted Unifrac). The core gut microbiota from the analyzed Reticulitermes species contained 16 bacterial operational taxonomic units. Enzymes (KO) were detected from 14 pathways related to carbohydrate metabolism. R. grassei and R. hesperus, based on relative abundance of KO, had the most similar carbohydrate pathway patterns. In addition, we described the gut microbiota and functionality pathways in R. grassei after a 7-day dietary shift and antibiotic (ciprofloxacin) treatment. Both factors, but above all the antibiotic, altered the relative abundance of certain microbial groups, although the changes were not statistically significant (P-test in weighted Unifrac). The cellulose diet enhanced the carbohydrate pathways related to propanoate, butanoate, ascorbate, and glyoxylate metabolism. The antibiotic treatment affected galactose metabolism, the citrate cycle and inositol phosphate metabolism. Those functional changes may be related to changes in the abundance of several bacterial groups. Our findings provide insights into the stability of the gut microbiota in R. grassei and a resilience response to dietary shift or antibiotic treatment disturbance after 7 days.
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Tokuda G, Mikaelyan A, Fukui C, Matsuura Y, Watanabe H, Fujishima M, Brune A. Fiber-associated spirochetes are major agents of hemicellulose degradation in the hindgut of wood-feeding higher termites. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:E11996-E12004. [PMID: 30504145 PMCID: PMC6304966 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1810550115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Symbiotic digestion of lignocellulose in wood-feeding higher termites (family Termitidae) is a two-step process that involves endogenous host cellulases secreted in the midgut and a dense bacterial community in the hindgut compartment. The genomes of the bacterial gut microbiota encode diverse cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes, but the contributions of host and bacterial symbionts to lignocellulose degradation remain ambiguous. Our previous studies of Nasutitermes spp. documented that the wood fibers in the hindgut paunch are consistently colonized not only by uncultured members of Fibrobacteres, which have been implicated in cellulose degradation, but also by unique lineages of Spirochaetes. Here, we demonstrate that the degradation of xylan, the major component of hemicellulose, is restricted to the hindgut compartment, where it is preferentially hydrolyzed over cellulose. Metatranscriptomic analysis documented that the majority of glycoside hydrolase (GH) transcripts expressed by the fiber-associated bacterial community belong to family GH11, which consists exclusively of xylanases. The substrate specificity was further confirmed by heterologous expression of the gene encoding the predominant homolog. Although the most abundant transcripts of GH11 in Nasutitermes takasagoensis were phylogenetically placed among their homologs of Firmicutes, immunofluorescence microscopy, compositional binning of metagenomics contigs, and the genomic context of the homologs indicated that they are encoded by Spirochaetes and were most likely obtained by horizontal gene transfer among the intestinal microbiota. The major role of spirochetes in xylan degradation is unprecedented and assigns the fiber-associated Treponema clades in the hindgut of wood-feeding higher termites a prominent part in the breakdown of hemicelluloses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaku Tokuda
- Tropical Biosphere Research Center, Center of Molecular Biosciences, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, 903-0213 Okinawa, Japan;
- Graduate School of Engineering and Science, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, 903-0213 Okinawa, Japan
| | - Aram Mikaelyan
- Research Group Insect Gut Microbiology and Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, 35043 Marburg, Germany
- Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607
| | - Chiho Fukui
- Tropical Biosphere Research Center, Center of Molecular Biosciences, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, 903-0213 Okinawa, Japan
| | - Yu Matsuura
- Tropical Biosphere Research Center, Center of Molecular Biosciences, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, 903-0213 Okinawa, Japan
| | - Hirofumi Watanabe
- Biomolecular Mimetics Research Unit, Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, 305-8634 Ibaraki, Japan
| | - Masahiro Fujishima
- Department of Sciences, Graduate School of Sciences and Technology for Innovation, Yamaguchi University, Yoshida 1677-1, 753-8512 Yamaguchi, Japan
| | - Andreas Brune
- Research Group Insect Gut Microbiology and Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, 35043 Marburg, Germany
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Meta-Omics Tools in the World of Insect-Microorganism Interactions. BIOLOGY 2018; 7:biology7040050. [PMID: 30486337 PMCID: PMC6316257 DOI: 10.3390/biology7040050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2018] [Revised: 11/16/2018] [Accepted: 11/22/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Microorganisms are able to influence several aspects of insects’ life, and this statement is gaining increasing strength, as research demonstrates it daily. At the same time, new sequencing technologies are now available at a lower cost per base, and bioinformatic procedures are becoming more user-friendly. This is triggering a huge effort in studying the microbial diversity associated to insects, and especially to economically important insect pests. The importance of the microbiome has been widely acknowledged for a wide range of animals, and also for insects this topic is gaining considerable importance. In addition to bacterial-associates, the insect-associated fungal communities are also gaining attention, especially those including plant pathogens. The use of meta-omics tools is not restricted to the description of the microbial world, but it can be also used in bio-surveillance, food safety assessment, or even to bring novelties to the industry. This mini-review aims to give a wide overview of how meta-omics tools are fostering advances in research on insect-microorganism interactions.
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Lazuka A, Auer L, O’Donohue M, Hernandez-Raquet G. Anaerobic lignocellulolytic microbial consortium derived from termite gut: enrichment, lignocellulose degradation and community dynamics. BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR BIOFUELS 2018; 11:284. [PMID: 30356893 PMCID: PMC6191919 DOI: 10.1186/s13068-018-1282-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2018] [Accepted: 10/06/2018] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Lignocellulose is the most abundant renewable carbon resource that can be used for biofuels and commodity chemicals production. The ability of complex microbial communities present in natural environments that are specialized in biomass deconstruction can be exploited to develop lignocellulose bioconversion processes. Termites are among the most abundant insects on earth and play an important role in lignocellulose decomposition. Although their digestive microbiome is recognized as a potential reservoir of microorganisms producing lignocellulolytic enzymes, the potential to enrich and maintain the lignocellulolytic activity of microbial consortia derived from termite gut useful for lignocellulose biorefinery has not been assessed. Here, we assessed the possibility of enriching a microbial consortium from termite gut and maintaining its lignocellulose degradation ability in controlled anaerobic bioreactors. RESULTS We enriched a termite gut-derived consortium able to transform lignocellulose into carboxylates under anaerobic conditions. To assess the impact of substrate natural microbiome on the enrichment and the maintenance of termite gut microbiome, the enrichment process was performed using both sterilized and non-sterilized straw. The enrichment process was carried out in bioreactors operating under industrially relevant aseptic conditions. Two termite gut-derived microbial consortia were obtained from Nasutitermes ephratae by sequential batch culture on raw wheat straw as the sole carbon source. Analysis of substrate loss, carboxylate production and microbial diversity showed that regardless of the substrate sterility, the diversity of communities selected by the enrichment process strongly changed compared to that observed in the termite gut. Nevertheless, the community obtained on sterile straw displayed higher lignocellulose degradation capacity; it showed a high xylanase activity and an initial preference for hemicellulose. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that it is possible to enrich and maintain a microbial consortium derived from termite gut microbiome in controlled anaerobic bioreactors, producing useful carboxylates from raw biomass. Our results suggest that the microbial community is shaped both by the substrate and the conditions that prevail during enrichment. However, when aseptic conditions are applied, it is also affected by the biotic pressure exerted by microorganisms naturally present in the substrate and in the surrounding environment. Besides the efficient lignocellulolytic consortium enriched in this study, our results revealed high levels of xylanase activity that can now be further explored for enzyme identification and overexpression for biorefinery purposes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adèle Lazuka
- Laboratoire d’Ingénierie des Systèmes Biologiques et des Procédés - LISBP, UMR5504, UMR792, CNRS, INRA, INSA, Université de Toulouse, 135 Avenue de Rangueil, 31077 Toulouse Cedex 04, France
| | - Lucas Auer
- Laboratoire d’Ingénierie des Systèmes Biologiques et des Procédés - LISBP, UMR5504, UMR792, CNRS, INRA, INSA, Université de Toulouse, 135 Avenue de Rangueil, 31077 Toulouse Cedex 04, France
| | - Michael O’Donohue
- Laboratoire d’Ingénierie des Systèmes Biologiques et des Procédés - LISBP, UMR5504, UMR792, CNRS, INRA, INSA, Université de Toulouse, 135 Avenue de Rangueil, 31077 Toulouse Cedex 04, France
| | - Guillermina Hernandez-Raquet
- Laboratoire d’Ingénierie des Systèmes Biologiques et des Procédés - LISBP, UMR5504, UMR792, CNRS, INRA, INSA, Université de Toulouse, 135 Avenue de Rangueil, 31077 Toulouse Cedex 04, France
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Grosser K, Ramasamy P, Amirabad AD, Schulz MH, Gasparoni G, Simon M, Schrallhammer M. More than the "Killer Trait": Infection with the Bacterial Endosymbiont Caedibacter taeniospiralis Causes Transcriptomic Modulation in Paramecium Host. Genome Biol Evol 2018; 10:646-656. [PMID: 29390087 PMCID: PMC5814942 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evy024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Endosymbiosis is a widespread phenomenon and hosts of bacterial endosymbionts can be found all-over the eukaryotic tree of life. Likely, this evolutionary success is connected to the altered phenotype arising from a symbiotic association. The potential variety of symbiont’s contributions to new characteristics or abilities of host organisms are largely unstudied. Addressing this aspect, we focused on an obligate bacterial endosymbiont that confers an intraspecific killer phenotype to its host. The symbiosis between Paramecium tetraurelia and Caedibacter taeniospiralis, living in the host’s cytoplasm, enables the infected paramecia to release Caedibacter symbionts, which can simultaneously produce a peculiar protein structure and a toxin. The ingestion of bacteria that harbor both components leads to the death of symbiont-free congeners. Thus, the symbiosis provides Caedibacter-infected cells a competitive advantage, the “killer trait.” We characterized the adaptive gene expression patterns in symbiont-harboring Paramecium as a second symbiosis-derived aspect next to the killer phenotype. Comparative transcriptomics of infected P. tetraurelia and genetically identical symbiont-free cells confirmed altered gene expression in the symbiont-bearing line. Our results show up-regulation of specific metabolic and heat shock genes whereas down-regulated genes were involved in signaling pathways and cell cycle regulation. Functional analyses to validate the transcriptomics results demonstrated that the symbiont increases host density hence providing a fitness advantage. Comparative transcriptomics shows gene expression modulation of a ciliate caused by its bacterial endosymbiont thus revealing new adaptive advantages of the symbiosis. Caedibacter taeniospiralis apparently increases its host fitness via manipulation of metabolic pathways and cell cycle control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrin Grosser
- Microbiology, Institute of Biology II, Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - Pathmanaban Ramasamy
- Excellence Cluster for Multimodal Computing and Interaction, Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany.,Molecular Cell Dynamics, Centre for Human and Molecular Biology, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany
| | - Azim Dehghani Amirabad
- Excellence Cluster for Multimodal Computing and Interaction, Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany.,Computational Biology and Applied Algorithmics, Max-Planck-Institute for Informatics, Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarbruecken, Germany
| | - Marcel H Schulz
- Excellence Cluster for Multimodal Computing and Interaction, Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany.,Computational Biology and Applied Algorithmics, Max-Planck-Institute for Informatics, Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarbruecken, Germany
| | - Gilles Gasparoni
- Genetics, Centre for Human and Molecular Biology, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany
| | - Martin Simon
- Molecular Cell Dynamics, Centre for Human and Molecular Biology, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany
| | - Martina Schrallhammer
- Microbiology, Institute of Biology II, Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany
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Bredon M, Dittmer J, Noël C, Moumen B, Bouchon D. Lignocellulose degradation at the holobiont level: teamwork in a keystone soil invertebrate. MICROBIOME 2018; 6:162. [PMID: 30223906 PMCID: PMC6142342 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-018-0536-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2018] [Accepted: 08/22/2018] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Woodlice are recognized as keystone species in terrestrial ecosystems due to their role in the decomposition of organic matter. Thus, they contribute to lignocellulose degradation and nutrient cycling in the environment together with other macroarthropods. Lignocellulose is the main component of plants and is composed of cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose. Its digestion requires the action of multiple Carbohydrate-Active enZymes (called CAZymes), typically acting together as a cocktail with complementary, synergistic activities and modes of action. Some invertebrates express a few endogenous lignocellulose-degrading enzymes but in most species, an efficient degradation and digestion of lignocellulose can only be achieved through mutualistic associations with endosymbionts. Similar to termites, it has been suspected that several bacterial symbionts may be involved in lignocellulose degradation in terrestrial isopods, by completing the CAZyme repertoire of their hosts. RESULTS To test this hypothesis, host transcriptomic and microbiome shotgun metagenomic datasets were obtained and investigated from the pill bug Armadillidium vulgare. Many genes of bacterial and archaeal origin coding for CAZymes were identified in the metagenomes of several host tissues and the gut content of specimens from both laboratory lineages and a natural population of A. vulgare. Some of them may be involved in the degradation of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Reconstructing a lignocellulose-degrading microbial community based on the prokaryotic taxa contributing relevant CAZymes revealed two taxonomically distinct but functionally redundant microbial communities depending on host origin. In parallel, endogenous CAZymes were identified from the transcriptome of the host and their expression in digestive tissues was demonstrated by RT-qPCR, demonstrating a complementary enzyme repertoire for lignocellulose degradation from both the host and the microbiome in A. vulgare. CONCLUSIONS Our results provide new insights into the role of the microbiome in the evolution of terrestrial isopods and their adaptive radiation in terrestrial habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marius Bredon
- Laboratoire Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions-UMR CNRS 7267, Equipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose-Batiment B8-B35, Université de Poitiers, 5 rue Albert Turpain, TSA 51106, F-86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France
| | - Jessica Dittmer
- Laboratoire Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions-UMR CNRS 7267, Equipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose-Batiment B8-B35, Université de Poitiers, 5 rue Albert Turpain, TSA 51106, F-86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France
- Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Cyril Noël
- Laboratoire Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions-UMR CNRS 7267, Equipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose-Batiment B8-B35, Université de Poitiers, 5 rue Albert Turpain, TSA 51106, F-86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France
| | - Bouziane Moumen
- Laboratoire Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions-UMR CNRS 7267, Equipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose-Batiment B8-B35, Université de Poitiers, 5 rue Albert Turpain, TSA 51106, F-86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France
| | - Didier Bouchon
- Laboratoire Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions-UMR CNRS 7267, Equipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose-Batiment B8-B35, Université de Poitiers, 5 rue Albert Turpain, TSA 51106, F-86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France
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Moreira EA, Alvarez TM, Persinoti GF, Paixão DAA, Menezes LR, Cairo JPF, Squina FM, Costa-Leonardo AM, Carrijo T, Arab A. Microbial Communities of the Gut and Nest of the Humus- and Litter-Feeding Termite Procornitermes araujoi (Syntermitinae). Curr Microbiol 2018; 75:1609-1618. [PMID: 30209570 DOI: 10.1007/s00284-018-1567-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2018] [Accepted: 09/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of the symbiotic association with microbes allowed termites to decompose ingested lignocellulose from plant-derived substrates, including herbivore dung and soil humus. Representatives of the Syntermitinae (Termitidae) range in their feeding habits from wood and litter-feeding to humus-feeding species. However, only limited information is available about their feeding ecology and associated microbial communities. Here we conducted a study of the microbial communities associated to the termite Procornitermes araujoi using Illumina sequencing of the 16S and ITS rRNA genes. This species has been previously included in different feeding guilds. However, most aspects of its feeding ecology are unknown, especially those associated to its symbiotic microbiota. Our results showed that the microbial communities of termite guts and nest substrates of P. araujoi differed significantly for bacteria and fungi. Firmicutes dominated the bacterial gut community of both workers and soldiers, whereas Actinobacteria was found in higher prevalence in the nest walls. Sordariomycetes was the most abundant fungal class in both gut and nest samples and distinguish P. araujoi from the grass/litter feeding Cornitermes cumulans. Our results also showed that diversity of gut bacteria were higher in P. araujoi and Silvestritermes euamignathus than in the grass/litter feeders (C. cumulans and Syntermes dirus), that could indicate an adaptation of the microbial community of polyphagous termites to the higher complexity of their diets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edimar A Moreira
- Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC), Santo André, SP, 09210-580, Brazil
| | - Thabata M Alvarez
- Mestrado em Biotecnologia Industrial, Universidade Positivo, Curitiba, 81280-330, PR, Brazil
- Laboratório Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol (CTBE), Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais, CNPEM, Campinas, 13083-970, SP, Brazil
| | - Gabriela F Persinoti
- Laboratório Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol (CTBE), Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais, CNPEM, Campinas, 13083-970, SP, Brazil
| | - Douglas Antonio Alvaredo Paixão
- Laboratório Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol (CTBE), Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais, CNPEM, Campinas, 13083-970, SP, Brazil
| | - Letícia R Menezes
- Departamento de Biologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, SP, Brazil
| | - João P Franco Cairo
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Biologia Tecidual, Instituto de Biologia, UNICAMP, Campinas, SP, Brazil
| | - Fabio Marcio Squina
- Programa em Processos Tecnológicos e Ambientais, Universidade de Sorocaba (UNISO), Sorocaba, SP, Brazil
| | - Ana M Costa-Leonardo
- Departamento de Biologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, SP, Brazil
| | - Tiago Carrijo
- Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC), Santo André, SP, 09210-580, Brazil
| | - Alberto Arab
- Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC), Santo André, SP, 09210-580, Brazil.
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Menezes L, Alvarez TM, Persinoti GF, Franco JP, Squina F, Moreira EA, Alvaredo Paixão DA, Costa-Leonardo AM, da Silva VX, Clerici MTPS, Arab A. Food Storage by the Savanna Termite Cornitermes cumulans (Syntermitinae): a Strategy to Improve Hemicellulose Digestibility? MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2018; 76:492-505. [PMID: 29270662 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-017-1128-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2017] [Accepted: 12/11/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
It has been suggested that food storage inside the nest may offer termites with a nutritional provision during low resource availability. Additionally, feces employed as construction material provide an excellent environment for colonization by microorganisms and, together with the storage of plant material inside the nest, could thus provide some advantage to the termites in terms of lignocellulose decomposition. Here, we conducted for the first time a comprehensive study of the microbial communities associated to a termite exhibiting food storage behavior using Illumina sequencing of the 16S and (ITS2) regions of rRNA genes, together with enzymatic assays and data collected in the field. Cornitermes cumulans (Syntermitinae) stored grass litter in nodules made from feces and saliva located in the nest core. The amount of nodules increased with nest size and isolation, and interestingly, the soluble fraction of extracts from nodules showed a higher activity against hemicellulosic substrates compared to termite guts. Actinobacteria and Sordariales dominated microbial communities of food nodules and nest walls, whereas Spirochetes and Pleosporales dominated gut samples of C. cumulans. Within Syntermitinae, however, gut bacterial assemblages were dissimilar. On the other hand, there is a remarkable convergence of the bacterial community structure of Termitidae nests. Our results suggest that the role of nodules could be related to food storage; however, the higher xylanolytic activity in the nodules and their associated microbiota could also provide C. cumulans with an external source of predigested polysaccharides, which might be advantageous in comparison with litter-feeding termites that do not display food storage behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Letícia Menezes
- Departamento de Biologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, SP, Brazil
| | - Thabata Maria Alvarez
- Universidade Positivo, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
- Laboratório Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol (CTBE), Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais, Campinas, SP, Brazil
| | - Gabriela Félix Persinoti
- Laboratório Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol (CTBE), Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais, Campinas, SP, Brazil
| | - João Paulo Franco
- Laboratório Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol (CTBE), Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais, Campinas, SP, Brazil
| | - Fábio Squina
- Programa em Processos Tecnológicos e Ambientais, Universidade de Sorocaba (UNISO), Sorocaba, SP, Brazil
| | - Edimar Agnaldo Moreira
- CCNH-Center for Natural Sciences and Humanities, Federal University of ABC (UFABC), Santo André, SP, Brazil
| | - Douglas Antonio Alvaredo Paixão
- Laboratório Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol (CTBE), Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais, Campinas, SP, Brazil
| | - Ana Maria Costa-Leonardo
- Departamento de Biologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, SP, Brazil
| | | | | | - Alberto Arab
- CCNH-Center for Natural Sciences and Humanities, Federal University of ABC (UFABC), Santo André, SP, Brazil.
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Stern N, Mejia J, He S, Yang Y, Ginder-Vogel M, Roden EE. Dual Role of Humic Substances As Electron Donor and Shuttle for Dissimilatory Iron Reduction. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2018; 52:5691-5699. [PMID: 29658273 PMCID: PMC6211804 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b06574] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Dissimilatory iron-reducing bacteria (DIRB) are known to use humic substances (HS) as electron shuttles for dissimilatory iron reduction (DIR) by transferring electrons to HS-quinone moieties, which in turn rapidly reduce Fe(III) oxides. However, the potential for HS to serve as a source of organic carbon (OC) that can donate electrons for DIR is unknown. We studied whether humic acids (HA) and humins (HM) recovered from peat soil by sodium pyrophosphate extraction could serve as both electron shuttles and electron donors for DIR by freshwater sediment microorganisms. Both HA and HM served as electron shuttles in cultures amended with glucose. However, only HA served as an electron donor for DIR. Metagenomes from HA-containing cultures had an overrepresentation of genes involved in polysaccharide and to a lesser extent aromatic compound degradation, suggesting complex OC metabolism. Genomic searches for the porin-cytochrome complex involved in DIR resulted in matches to Ignavibacterium/Melioribacter, DIRB capable of polymeric OC metabolism. These results indicate that such taxa may have played a role in both DIR and decomposition of complex OC. Our results suggest that decomposition of HS coupled to DIR and other anaerobic pathways could play an important role in soil and sediment OC metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noah Stern
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Chemistry and Technology Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
| | - Jacqueline Mejia
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Chemistry and Technology Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
| | - Shaomei He
- Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
| | - Yu Yang
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, Nevada 89557, United States
| | - Matthew Ginder-Vogel
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Chemistry and Technology Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
| | - Eric E. Roden
- Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
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Rosenberg E, Zilber-Rosenberg I. The hologenome concept of evolution after 10 years. MICROBIOME 2018; 6:78. [PMID: 29695294 PMCID: PMC5922317 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-018-0457-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 223] [Impact Index Per Article: 37.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2017] [Accepted: 04/05/2018] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
The holobiont (host with its endocellular and extracellular microbiome) can function as a distinct biological entity, an additional organismal level to the ones previously considered, on which natural selection operates. The holobiont can function as a whole: anatomically, metabolically, immunologically, developmentally, and during evolution. Consideration of the holobiont with its hologenome as an independent level of selection in evolution has led to a better understanding of underappreciated modes of genetic variation and evolution. The hologenome is comprised of two complimentary parts: host and microbiome genomes. Changes in either genome can result in variations that can be selected for or against. The host genome is highly conserved, and genetic changes within it occur slowly, whereas the microbiome genome is dynamic and can change rapidly in response to the environment by increasing or reducing particular microbes, by acquisition of novel microbes, by horizontal gene transfer, and by mutation. Recent experiments showing that microbiota can play an initial role in speciation have been suggested as an additional mode of enhancing evolution. Some of the genetic variations can be transferred to offspring by a variety of mechanisms. Strain-specific DNA analysis has shown that at least some of the microbiota can be maintained across hundreds of thousands of host generations, implying the existence of a microbial core. We argue that rapid changes in the microbiome genome could allow holobionts to adapt and survive under changing environmental conditions thus providing the time necessary for the host genome to adapt and evolve. As Darwin wrote, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives but the most adaptable".
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Affiliation(s)
- Eugene Rosenberg
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel
| | - Ilana Zilber-Rosenberg
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel
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Chew YM, Lye S, Md. Salleh M, Yahya A. 16S rRNA metagenomic analysis of the symbiotic community structures of bacteria in foregut, midgut, and hindgut of the wood-feeding termite Bulbitermes sp. Symbiosis 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s13199-018-0544-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
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Bourguignon T, Lo N, Dietrich C, Šobotník J, Sidek S, Roisin Y, Brune A, Evans TA. Rampant Host Switching Shaped the Termite Gut Microbiome. Curr Biol 2018; 28:649-654.e2. [PMID: 29429621 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.01.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2017] [Revised: 11/21/2017] [Accepted: 01/11/2018] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The gut microbiota of animals exert major effects on host biology [1]. Although horizontal transfer is generally considered the prevalent route for the acquisition of gut bacteria in mammals [2], some bacterial lineages have co-speciated with their hosts on timescales of several million years [3]. Termites harbor a complex gut microbiota, and their advanced social behavior provides the potential for long-term vertical symbiont transmission, and co-evolution of gut symbionts and host [4-6]. Despite clear evolutionary patterns in the gut microbiota of termites [7], a consensus on how microbial communities were assembled during termite diversification has yet to be reached. Although some studies have concluded that vertical transmission has played a major role [8, 9], others indicate that diet and gut microenvironment have been the primary determinants shaping microbial communities in termite guts [7, 10]. To address this issue, we examined the gut microbiota of 94 termite species, through 16S rRNA metabarcoding. We analyzed the phylogeny of 211 bacterial lineages obtained from termite guts, including their closest relatives from other environments, which were identified using BLAST. The results provided strong evidence for rampant horizontal transfer of gut bacteria between termite host lineages. Although the majority of termite-derived phylotypes formed large monophyletic groups, indicating high levels of niche specialization, numerous other clades were interspersed with bacterial lineages from the guts of other animals. Our results indicate that "mixed-mode" transmission, which combines colony-to-offspring vertical transmission with horizontal colony-to-colony transfer, has been the primary driving force shaping the gut microbiota of termites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Bourguignon
- Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan; School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
| | - Nathan Lo
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
| | - Carsten Dietrich
- Department of Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany; Strategy and Innovation Technology Center, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Jan Šobotník
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Sarah Sidek
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 117543 Singapore, Singapore
| | - Yves Roisin
- Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium
| | - Andreas Brune
- Department of Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
| | - Theodore A Evans
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 117543 Singapore, Singapore; School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
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Peterson BF, Scharf ME. Metatranscriptomic Techniques for Identifying Cellulases in Termites and their Symbionts. Methods Mol Biol 2018; 1796:85-101. [PMID: 29856048 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-7877-9_7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Characterizing symbiotic communities, like that of the termite hindgut, is essential for understanding their functionality and capabilities. However, the same complexity that allows termites to digest wood so efficiently also makes them difficult to study. With the expansion in technology and sequencing strategies the feasibility of sequencing entire consortiums or microecosystems is now possible. Here we present an adapted library preparation strategy which allows for the detection and measurement of expressed genes from all three domains of life in a single sample simultaneously. This technique effectively captures the transcriptome contributions by the various members of the consortium regardless of their taxonomic identity, which can then be annotated using custom-built databases and reciprocal BLASTing. Joining the universality of this library prep strategy with the power of bioinformatics allows for the identification of cellulases and other genes encoding carbohydrate active enzymes from complex communities using metatranscriptomics.
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Auer L, Lazuka A, Sillam-Dussès D, Miambi E, O'Donohue M, Hernandez-Raquet G. Uncovering the Potential of Termite Gut Microbiome for Lignocellulose Bioconversion in Anaerobic Batch Bioreactors. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:2623. [PMID: 29312279 PMCID: PMC5744482 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.02623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2017] [Accepted: 12/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Termites are xylophages, being able to digest a wide variety of lignocellulosic biomass including wood with high lignin content. This ability to feed on recalcitrant plant material is the result of complex symbiotic relationships, which involve termite-specific gut microbiomes. Therefore, these represent a potential source of microorganisms for the bioconversion of lignocellulose in bioprocesses targeting the production of carboxylates. In this study, gut microbiomes of four termite species were studied for their capacity to degrade wheat straw and produce carboxylates in controlled bioreactors. All of the gut microbiomes successfully degraded lignocellulose and up to 45% w/w of wheat straw degradation was observed, with the Nasutitermes ephratae gut-microbiome displaying the highest levels of wheat straw degradation, carboxylate production and enzymatic activity. Comparing the 16S rRNA gene diversity of the initial gut inocula to the bacterial communities in lignocellulose degradation bioreactors revealed important changes in community diversity. In particular, taxa such as Spirochaetes and Fibrobacteres that were highly abundant in the initial gut inocula were replaced by Firmicutes and Proteobacteria at the end of incubation in wheat straw bioreactors. Overall, this study demonstrates that termite-gut microbiomes constitute a reservoir of lignocellulose-degrading bacteria that can be harnessed in artificial conditions for biomass conversion processes that lead to the production of useful molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Auer
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Biologiques et des Procédés, Université de Toulouse, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, INSA, Toulouse, France
| | - Adèle Lazuka
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Biologiques et des Procédés, Université de Toulouse, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, INSA, Toulouse, France
| | - David Sillam-Dussès
- Laboratoire d'Éthologie Expérimentale et Comparée, Université Paris 13 - Sorbonne Paris Cité, Villetaneuse, France
- Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris, Institut de Recherche Pour le Développement – Sorbonne Universités, Bondy, France
| | - Edouard Miambi
- Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Créteil, France
| | - Michael O'Donohue
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Biologiques et des Procédés, Université de Toulouse, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, INSA, Toulouse, France
| | - Guillermina Hernandez-Raquet
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Biologiques et des Procédés, Université de Toulouse, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, INSA, Toulouse, France
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