Complementary Contribution of Fungi and Bacteria to Lignocellulose Digestion in the Food Stored by a Neotropical Higher Termite

Autor(es):Mostrar menos -

Moreira, Edimar A. ^[1] ; Persinoti, Gabriela F. ^[2] ; Menezes, Leticia R. ^[1] ; Paixao, Douglas A. A. ^[2] ; Alvarez, Thabata M. ^[3] ; Cairo, Joao P. L. Franco ^[4] ; Squina, Fabio M. ^[5] ; Costa-Leonardo, Ana Maria ^[6] ; Rodrigues, Andre ^[7] ; Sillam-Dusses, David ^[8] ; Arab, Alberto ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Fed ABC UFABC, Ctr Ciencias Nat & Humanas, Santo Andre, SP - Brazil

^[2] Ctr Nacl Pesquisa Energia & Mat CNPEM, Lab Nacl Biorrenovaveis LNBR, Campinas - Brazil

^[3] Univ Posit, Grad Programme Ind Biotechnol, Curitiba, Parana - Brazil

^[4] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Dept Biochem & Tissue Biol, Campinas - Brazil

^[5] Univ Sorocaba UNISO, Programa Proc Tecnol & Ambientais, Sorocaba - Brazil

^[6] Univ Estadual Paulista UNESP, Inst Biociencias, Dept Biol Geral & Aplicada, Rio Claro - Brazil

^[7] Sao Paulo State Univ UNESP, Ctr Study Social Insects, Rio Claro - Brazil

^[8] Univ Sorbonne Paris Nord, Lab Expt & Comparat Ethol UR 4443, Villetaneuse - France

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION; v. 09, APR 26 2021.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Lignocellulose digestion in termites is achieved through the functional synergy between gut symbionts and host enzymes. However, some species have evolved additional associations with nest microorganisms that collaborate in the decomposition of plant biomass. In a previous study, we determined that plant material packed with feces inside the nests of Cornitermes cumulans (Syntermitinae) harbors a distinct microbial assemblage. These food nodules also showed a high hemicellulolytic activity, possibly acting as an external place for complementary lignocellulose digestion. In this study, we used a combination of ITS sequence analysis, metagenomics, and metatranscriptomics to investigate the presence and differential expression of genes coding for carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZy) in the food nodules and the gut of workers and soldiers. Our results confirm that food nodules express a distinct set of CAZy genes suggesting that stored plant material is initially decomposed by enzymes that target the lignin and complex polysaccharides from fungi and bacteria before the passage through the gut, where it is further targeted by a complementary set of cellulases, xylanases, and esterases produced by the gut microbiota and the termite host. We also showed that the expression of CAZy transcripts associated to endoglucanases and xylanases was higher in the gut of termites than in the food nodules. An additional finding in this study was the presence of fungi in the termite gut that expressed CAZy genes. This study highlights the importance of externalization of digestion by nest microbes and provides new evidence of complementary digestion in the context of higher termite evolution. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 15/21497-6 - Aspectos ecológicos e moleculares da digestão da lignocelulose em cupins superiores neotropicais
• Beneficiário: Alberto José Arab Olavarrieta
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 16/09950-0 - Caracterização funcional, estrutural e aplicação biotecnológica de mono-oxigenases líticas de polissacarídeos do cupim inferior Coptotermes gestroi
• Beneficiário: João Paulo Lourenço Franco Cairo
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 18/22839-6 - Efeito da dieta na diversidade bacteriana do trato digestivo de cupins (Termitidae)
• Beneficiário: Alberto José Arab Olavarrieta
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 15/50590-4 - Valorização da lignina em plantas de etanol celulósico: a conversão biocatalítica via ácido ferúlico a produtos químicos de alto valor
• Beneficiário: Fábio Márcio Squina
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOEN - Temático