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Specific features of nitrogen fixation in the termite Reticulitermes lucifugus

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Abstract

Nitrogenase activity, abundance of diazotrophic bacteria, and structural and functional parameters have been determined in microbial complexes of three populations of the termite Reticulitermes lucifugus and their nest materials. These data have been used for comparative analysis of nitrogen-fixing microorganism communities in termite guts and in nest materials from different termite populations. Similarities in the structure and other parameters of these communities have been revealed. The taxonomic composition of microbial communities differs among the populations, but the functional properties of these communities are almost identical. It is concluded that no symbiotic (mutualistic) relationship exists between nitrogen-fixing intestinal bacteria and their host termites.

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Correspondence to M. V. Vecherskii.

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Original Russian Text © M.V. Vecherskii, N.V. Kostina, M.V. Gorlenko, T.G. Dobrovol’skaya, M.M. Umarov, 2008, published in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Biologicheskaya, 2008, No. 5, pp. 522–527.

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Vecherskii, M.V., Kostina, N.V., Gorlenko, M.V. et al. Specific features of nitrogen fixation in the termite Reticulitermes lucifugus . Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 35, 446–451 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359008050026

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