ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2014
Complementary symbiont contributions to plant decomposition in a fungus-farming termite.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 129 papers.
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Who cites it
129 citing papers in PubMed, 284 citations in OpenAlex.
- Animal gut microbes and microbiomes in the 21st century and beyond.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Review
- The yeasts associated with the fungus-growing termite, Macrotermes michaelseni, of Botswana: biodiversity and potential functional roles.International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology · 2026Article
- Transcription Factor Evolution Associated with Social Transitions in Blattodea.Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Article
- When Small Meets Smaller: Immune Modulation and Virulence Strategies in Insect-Bacteria Interactions.Insects · 2026Review
- Cryptocercus Genomes Expand Knowledge of Adaptations to Xylophagy and Termite Sociality.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Genome diversification of symbiotic fungi in beetle-fungus mutualistic symbioses.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Unravelling the evolution of wood-feeding in termites with 47 high-resolution genome assemblies.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Genomic Features Underlying the Origin of Sociality and the Diversification of Caste Systems in Termites.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Antibacterial activity of fungus comb extracts from Senegalese fungus-farming termites.AMB Express · 2025Article
- Gut bacterium Acinetobacter sp. assists Camellia weevil with host plant adaptation by degrading tea saponin via the benzoate pathway.Microbiome · 2025Article
- Article
- Evidence for a Novel X Chromosome in Termites.Genome biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Gut bacteria of lepidopteran herbivores facilitate digestion of plant toxins.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Comparative genomics unravels a rich set of biosynthetic gene clusters with distinct evolutionary trajectories across fungal species (Termitomyces) farmed by termites.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Article
- Shaping the tripartite symbiosis: are termite microbiome functions directed by the environmentally acquired fungal cultivar?Animal microbiome · 2024Article
- Article
- Dietary potential of the symbiotic fungusApplied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Exploring the diversity of microbes and natural products from fungus-growing termite tripartite symbiosis.Engineering microbiology · 2024Review
- Metagenomic analysis of the honey bee queen microbiome reveals low bacterial diversity and Caudoviricetes phages.mSystems · 2024Article
69 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
24 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Termites normally rely on gut symbionts to decompose organic matter but the Macrotermitinae domesticated Termitomyces fungi to produce their own food. This transition was accompanied by a shift in the composition of the gut microbiota, but the complementary roles of these bacteria in the symbiosis have remained enigmatic. We obtained high-quality annotated draft genomes of the termite Macrotermes natalensis, its Termitomyces symbiont, and gut metagenomes from workers, soldiers, and a queen. We show that members from 111 of the 128 known glycoside hydrolase families are represented in the symbiosis, that Termitomyces has the genomic capacity to handle complex carbohydrates, and that worker gut microbes primarily contribute enzymes for final digestion of oligosaccharides. This apparent division of labor is consistent with the Macrotermes gut microbes being most important during the second passage of comb material through the termite gut, after a first gut passage where the crude plant substrate is inoculated with Termitomyces asexual spores so that initial fungal growth and polysaccharide decomposition can proceed with high efficiency. Complex conversion of biomass in termite mounds thus appears to be mainly accomplished by complementary cooperation between a domesticated fungal monoculture and a specialized bacterial community. In sharp contrast, the gut microbiota of the queen had highly reduced plant decomposition potential, suggesting that mature reproductives digest fungal material provided by workers rather than plant substrate.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.