Department of Biological Sciences, Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, LA, 70310, USA.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.
J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol. 2019 Oct;46(9-10):1265-1271. doi: 10.1007/s10295-019-02183-5. Epub 2019 May 3.
Metagenomics and transcriptomics have had some success analyzing community and functional ecology of the termite gut, but carbon utilization ecology and the effect of diet on the gut community are not well understood. This study was done to determine the effect of three hardwood tree types, oak (Quercus spp.), red maple (Acer rubrum), and tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) on the termite species, Reticulitermes flavipes in the family Rhinotermitidae. Termite abdomen homogenates were incubated on agar plates containing three common carbon sources in the termite gut, namely, acetate, cellobiose, and phenol under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Bacterial growth was higher on cellobiose than any other carbon source. Higher bacterial growth on cellobiose was observed from termite colonies feeding on oak than on phenol from the other two wood types. The difference between aerobic and anaerobic conditions was not significant. A bacterium, Acinetobacter tandoii isolated and identified from our previous study was subjected to high concentrations of phenol as the sole carbon source and this bacterium was able to degrade phenol concentration up to 600 mg/L.
宏基因组学和转录组学在分析白蚁肠道的群落和功能生态学方面取得了一些成功，但碳利用生态学以及饮食对肠道群落的影响还不太清楚。本研究旨在确定三种硬木树种，橡树（Quercus spp.）、红枫（Acer rubrum）和紫树（Nyssa aquatica）对 Rhinotermitidae 家族的白蚁物种——红火蚁（Reticulitermes flavipes）的影响。在有氧和厌氧条件下，将白蚁腹部匀浆接种在含有白蚁肠道中三种常见碳源（乙酸盐、纤维二糖和苯酚）的琼脂平板上。纤维二糖的细菌生长高于任何其他碳源。从以橡树为食的白蚁群体中观察到的纤维二糖细菌生长高于其他两种木材类型的苯酚。有氧和厌氧条件之间的差异不显著。我们之前的研究中分离并鉴定出的一种细菌，不动杆菌（Acinetobacter tandoii），以苯酚作为唯一碳源进行了高浓度处理，该细菌能够将苯酚浓度降解至 600mg/L。
