ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2013
Extended disease resistance emerging from the faecal nest of a subterranean termite.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.
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Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed.
- dsRNA-mediated interference with RcβGRPs significantly reduced the resistance of Reticulitermes chinensis Snyder (Blattodea: Termitidae) to pathogens.Pest management science · 2026Article
- A new narrative for social immunity research in termites.Trends open · 2026Review
- Article
- Spatially organized chemical defences shape microbial communities in honey bee colonies.ISME communications · 2026Article
- Termite antimicrobial defense through interaction with symbiotic microorganisms in nest materials.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Assessment of bacterial communities ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Links between Soil Bacteriobiomes and Fungistasis toward Fungi Infecting the Colorado Potato Beetle.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- The tropical cookbook: Termite diet and phylogenetics-Over geographical origin-Drive the microbiome and functional genetic structure of nests.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Identification of fungus-growing termite-associated halogenated-PKS maduralactomycin a as a potential inhibitor of MurF protein of multidrug-resistantFrontiers in molecular biosciences · 2023Article
- Termite-engineered microbial communities of termite nest structures: a new dimension to the extended phenotype.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2022Review
- Trichoderma-Derived Pentapeptides from the Infected Nest Mycobiome of the Subterranean Termite Coptotermes testaceus.Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology · 2022Article
- Symbiont-Mediated Protection ofmBio · 2021Article
- The power of poop: Defecation behaviors and social hygiene in insects.PLoS pathogens · 2021Review
- Reduced Environmental Microbial Diversity on the Cuticle and in the Galleries of a Subterranean Termite Compared to Surrounding Soil.Microbial ecology · 2021Article
- Natural variation in colony inbreeding does not influence susceptibility to a fungal pathogen in a termite.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Termite evolution: mutualistic associations, key innovations, and the rise of Termitidae.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2021Review
- Termites Are Associated with External Species-Specific Bacterial Communities.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2021Article
- Antimicrobial Compounds in the Volatilome of Social Spider Communities.Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Microbial Response to Fungal Infection in a Fungus-Growing Termite,Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Modern termites inherited the potential of collective construction from their common ancestor.Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Social insects nesting in soil environments are in constant contact with entomopathogens but have evolved a range of defence mechanisms, resulting in both individual and social immunity that reduce the chance for epizootics in the colony, as in the case of subterranean termites. Coptotermes formosanus uses its faeces as building material for its nest structure that result into a 'carton material', and here, we report that the faecal nest supports the growth of Actinobacteria which provide another level of protection to the social group against entomopathogens. A Streptomyces species with in vivo antimicrobial activity against fungal entomopathogens was isolated from the nest material of multiple termite colonies. Termite groups were exposed to Metarhizium anisopliae, a fungal entomopathogen, during their foraging activity and the presence of Streptomyces within the nest structure provided a significant survival benefit to the termites. Therefore, this report describes a non-nutritional exosymbiosis in a termite, in the form of a defensive mutualism which has emerged from the use of faecal material in the nesting structure of Coptotermes. The association with an Actinobacteria community in the termite faecal material provides an extended disease resistance to the termite group as another level of defence, in addition to their individual and social immunity.
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