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Towards an integrated understanding of the consequences of fungus domestication on the fungus‐growing termite gut microbiota
Author(s) -
Poulsen Michael
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1111/1462-2920.12765
Subject(s) - biology , gut flora , termitidae , fungus , symbiosis , subfamily , ecology , host (biology) , decomposer , domestication , zoology , commensalism , evolutionary biology , ecosystem , botany , bacteria , genetics , gene , immunology
Summary Approximately 30 million years ago (MYA), the subfamily of higher termites M acrotermitinae domesticated a fungus, T ermitomyces , as the main plant decomposer and food source for the termite host. The origin of fungiculture shifted the composition of the termite gut microbiota, and some of the functional implications of this shift have recently been established. I review reports on the composition of the M acrotermitinae gut microbiota, evidence for a subfamily core gut microbiota, and the first insight into functional complementarity between fungal and gut symbionts. In addition, I argue that we need to explore the capacities of all members of the symbiotic communities, including better solidifying T ermitomyces role(s) in order to understand putative complementary gut bacterial contributions. Approaches that integrate natural history and sequencing data to elucidate symbiont functions will be powerful, particularly if executed in comparative analyses across the well‐established congruent termite–fungus phylogenies. This will allow for testing if gut communities have evolved in parallel with their hosts, with implications for our general understanding of the evolution of gut symbiont communities with hosts.