Lei Wenzhuo, Qin Zhifang, Jia Bao, Lu Wen, Yang Juan, Gao Qionghua
Guangxi Key Laboratory of Agro-environmental and Agric-products Safety/National Demonstration Center for Experimental Plant Science Education, College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, China.
Termite Control of Nanning City, Nanning, Guangxi, China.
Front Microbiol. 2025 Jun 25;16:1587281. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1587281. eCollection 2025.
Inquilinism describes an interesting interspecific interaction in termite ecosystems wherein an inquiline species inhabits the host's nest structure. In this context, gut microbiota play a crucial role in mediating the ecological relationship. The facultative inquiline (Termitidae: Macrotermitinae) frequently inhabits nests of the host but can also establish independent colonies. We used 16S rRNA sequencing to compare the gut microbiota of and in independent and inquilinism nests, assessing microbial diversity and composition. Gut microbiota diversity increased under inquilinism, with greater microbial similarity between and in shared nests. Furthermore, inquilinism altered microbial function, increasing taxa linked to environmental adaptation while reducing those involved in energy metabolism, suggesting potential metabolic trade-offs. Beta diversity analysis indicated that inquilinism drives the gut microbiota adaptation between the host and inquiline. These findings reveal how gut microbiota mediates host-inquiline interactions, advancing our understanding of microbial adaptation in social insect symbiosis.
巢寄生现象描述了白蚁生态系统中一种有趣的种间相互作用，即巢寄生物种栖息在宿主的巢穴结构中。在这种情况下，肠道微生物群在介导这种生态关系中起着关键作用。兼性巢寄生者（白蚁科：大白蚁亚科）经常栖息在宿主的巢穴中，但也可以建立独立的群体。我们使用16S rRNA测序来比较独立巢穴和巢寄生巢穴中宿主和巢寄生者的肠道微生物群，评估微生物的多样性和组成。在巢寄生情况下，肠道微生物群的多样性增加，在共享巢穴中宿主和巢寄生者之间的微生物相似性更高。此外，巢寄生改变了微生物功能，增加了与环境适应相关的分类群，同时减少了参与能量代谢的分类群，这表明存在潜在的代谢权衡。β多样性分析表明，巢寄生驱动了宿主和巢寄生者之间肠道微生物群的适应。这些发现揭示了肠道微生物群如何介导宿主与巢寄生者之间的相互作用，增进了我们对社会性昆虫共生中微生物适应的理解。
