TY - JOUR
T1 - Gut microbial compositions mirror caste-specific diets in a major lineage of social insects
AU - Otani, Saria
AU - Zhukova, Mariya
AU - Koné, N'golo Abdoulaye
AU - Rodrigues da Costa, Rafael
AU - Mikaelyan, Aram
AU - Sapountzis, Panagiotis
AU - Poulsen, Michael
PY - 2019/4
Y1 - 2019/4
N2 - Social insects owe their ecological success to the division of labour between castes, but associations between microbial community compositions and castes with different tasks and diets have not been extensively explored. Fungus-growing termites associate with fungi to degrade plant material, complemented by diverse gut microbial communities. Here, we explore whether division of labour and accompanying dietary differences between fungus-growing termite castes are linked to gut bacterial community structure. Using amplicon sequencing, we characterize community compositions in sterile (worker and soldier) and reproductive (queen and king) termites and combine this with gut enzyme activities and microscopy to hypothesise sterile caste-specific microbiota roles. Gut bacterial communities are structured primarily according to termite caste and genus and, in contrast to the observed rich and diverse sterile caste microbiotas, royal pair guts are dominated by few bacterial taxa, potentially reflecting their specialized uniform diet and unique lifestyle.
AB - Social insects owe their ecological success to the division of labour between castes, but associations between microbial community compositions and castes with different tasks and diets have not been extensively explored. Fungus-growing termites associate with fungi to degrade plant material, complemented by diverse gut microbial communities. Here, we explore whether division of labour and accompanying dietary differences between fungus-growing termite castes are linked to gut bacterial community structure. Using amplicon sequencing, we characterize community compositions in sterile (worker and soldier) and reproductive (queen and king) termites and combine this with gut enzyme activities and microscopy to hypothesise sterile caste-specific microbiota roles. Gut bacterial communities are structured primarily according to termite caste and genus and, in contrast to the observed rich and diverse sterile caste microbiotas, royal pair guts are dominated by few bacterial taxa, potentially reflecting their specialized uniform diet and unique lifestyle.
U2 - 10.1111/1758-2229.12728
DO - 10.1111/1758-2229.12728
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 30556304
AN - SCOPUS:85059690744
SN - 1758-2229
VL - 11
SP - 196
EP - 205
JO - Environmental Microbiology Reports
JF - Environmental Microbiology Reports
IS - 2
ER -