Age polyethism drives community structure of the bacterial gut microbiota in the fungus-cultivating termite Odontotermes formosanus.
Fungus-cultivating termites (Macrotermitinae) possess an elaborate strategy of lignocellulose digestion. It involves a lignocellulose-degrading fungal symbiont (genus Termitomyces), a diverse gut microbiota and a characteristic labour division in food processing. In this study, using pyrotag sequencing and electron microscopy, we analysed the bacterial microbiota in the hindgut of Odontotermes formosanus and its fungus comb to investigate the spatial organization, establishment and temporal succession of the bacterial communities colonizing specific microhabitats. Our results document strong differences between the communities at the hindgut epithelium and the luminal fluid of newly moulted, young and old worker termites. The differences in community structure were consistent with the density, morphology and spatial distribution of bacterial cells and the pools of microbial metabolites in the hindgut compartment, underlining that both gut development and the age-specific changes in diet affect the composition and functional role of their gut microbiota. These findings provide strong support for the concept that changes in diet and gut environment are important determinants of community structure because they create new niches for microbial symbionts.
Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Hongjie
H
Li
Department of Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany.
Carsten
C
Dietrich
Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Na
N
Zhu
Department of Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany.
Aram
A
Mikaelyan
Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Bin
B
Ma
Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences and Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Ruoxi
R
Pi
College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Yu
Y
Liu
Xiaoshan Institute of Termite Control, Xiaoshan, Zhejiang, China.
Mengyi
M
Yang
Department of Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany.
Andreas
0000-0002-2667-4391
A
Brune
Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Jianchu
J
Mo
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification*; D004064:Digestive System / Q000382:microbiology*; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome / Q000502:physiology*; D020049:Isoptera / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology