ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2015
Acetogenesis from H2 plus CO2 and nitrogen fixation by an endosymbiotic spirochete of a termite-gut cellulolytic protist.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers.
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48 citing papers in PubMed, 122 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Subterranean synergies: termite bacterial diversity and eugenol-mediated selective dysbiosis.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Discovery and genomics of HISME communications · 2026Article
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- Functional division of labor in motility, lignocellulose digestion, and nitrogen metabolism revealed for the Mixotricha paradoxa holobiont.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- A Novel Lineage of Endosymbiotic Actinomycetales: Genome Reduction and Acquisition of New Functions in Bifidobacteriaceae Associated With Termite Gut Flagellates.Environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Rumen protozoa are a hub for diverse hydrogenotrophic functions.Environmental microbiology reports · 2024Article
- The impact of tetrodotoxin (TTX) on the gut microbiome in juvenile tiger pufferfish, Takifugu rubripes.Scientific reports · 2024Article
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- Transmission dynamics of symbiotic protist communities in the termite gut: association with host adult eclosion and dispersal.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Exploring the diversity of microbes and natural products from fungus-growing termite tripartite symbiosis.Engineering microbiology · 2024Review
- Facultative endosymbiosis between cellulolytic protists and methanogenic archaea in the gut of the Formosan termiteISME communications · 2024Article
- Emergence of putative energy parasites within Clostridia revealed by genome analysis of a novel endosymbiotic clade.The ISME journal · 2023Article
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- The effects of Selenohomolanthionine supplementation on the rumen eukaryotic diversity of Shaanbei white cashmere wether goats.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Environmental and Human Health Impact of Disposable Face Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Wood-Feeding Termites as a Model for Plastic Biodegradation.Applied biochemistry and biotechnology · 2023Review
- How can we possibly resolve the planet's nitrogen dilemma?Microbial biotechnology · 2023Article
- Change of termite hindgut metabolome and bacteria after captivity indicates the hindgut microbiota provides nutritional factors to the host.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2023Article
- Comparative Analysis ofApplied and environmental microbiology · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Symbiotic associations of cellulolytic eukaryotic protists and diverse bacteria are common in the gut microbial communities of termites. Besides cellulose degradation by the gut protists, reductive acetogenesis from H2 plus CO2 and nitrogen fixation by gut bacteria play crucial roles in the host termites' nutrition by contributing to the energy demand of termites and supplying nitrogen poor in their diet, respectively. Fractionation of these activities and the identification of key genes from the gut community of the wood-feeding termite Hodotermopsis sjoestedti revealed that substantial activities in the gut--nearly 60% of reductive acetogenesis and almost exclusively for nitrogen fixation--were uniquely attributed to the endosymbiotic bacteria of the cellulolytic protist in the genus Eucomonympha. The rod-shaped endosymbionts were surprisingly identified as a spirochete species in the genus Treponema, which usually exhibits a characteristic spiral morphology. The endosymbionts likely use H2 produced by the protist for these dual functions. Although H2 is known to inhibit nitrogen fixation in some bacteria, it seemed to rather stimulate this important mutualistic process. In addition, the single-cell genome analyses revealed the endosymbiont's potentials of the utilization of sugars for its energy requirement, and of the biosynthesis of valuable nutrients such as amino acids from the fixed nitrogen. These metabolic interactions are suitable for the dual functions of the endosymbiont and reconcile its substantial contributions in the gut.
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