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Variation in the Gut Microbiota of Termites (Tsaitermes ampliceps) Against Different Diets

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Abstract

Termites are well recognized for their thriving on recalcitrant lignocellulosic diets through nutritional symbioses with gut-dwelling microbiota; however, the effects of diet changes on termite gut microbiota are poorly understood, especially for the lower termites. In this study, we employed high-throughput 454 pyrosequencing of 16S V1–V3 amplicons to compare gut microbiotas of Tsaitermes ampliceps fed with lignin-rich and lignin-poor cellulose diets after a 2-week-feeding period. As a result, the majority of bacterial taxa were shared across the treatments with different diets, but their relative abundances were modified. In particular, the relative abundance was reduced for Spirochaetes and it was increased for Proteobacteria and Bacteroides by feeding the lignin-poor diet. The evenness of gut microbiota exhibited a significant difference in response to the diet type (filter paper diets < corn stover diets < wood diets), while their richness was constant, which may be related to the lower recalcitrance of this biomass to degradation. These results have important implications for sampling and analysis strategies to probe the lignocellulose degradation features of termite gut microbiota and suggest that the dietary lignocellulose composition could cause shifting rapidly in the termite gut microbiota.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Science Foundation of China Grant 31170350.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Sciences, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450002, China

    Lijuan Su, Lele Yang, Yan Li, Fengqin Wang & Andong Song

  2. BioEnergy Genome Center, CAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels and Shandong Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, Shandong, 266101, China

    Shi Huang, Xiaoquan Su & Cunpei Bo

  3. Key Laboratory of Enzyme Engineering of Agricultural Microbiology, Ministry of Agriculture, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450002, China

    Fengqin Wang & Andong Song

  4. Departamento de Microbiología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, 11340, México D.F., Mexico

    En Tao Wang

  5. No. 93, Nongye Road, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China

    Andong Song

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  1. Lijuan Su
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  2. Lele Yang
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  8. En Tao Wang
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Correspondence to En Tao Wang or Andong Song.

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We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work. There is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service, and/or company that could be construed as influencing the position presented in the manuscript entitled, “Variation in the gut microbiota and sensitivity to dietary changes in termite hosts”.

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Lijuan Su and Lele Yang contributed equally to this work.

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Su, L., Yang, L., Huang, S. et al. Variation in the Gut Microbiota of Termites (Tsaitermes ampliceps) Against Different Diets. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 181, 32–47 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-016-2197-2

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