Termites: wood-munching fuel factories
Termites digest wood, but only with the help of an astonishingly efficient bioreactor consisting of their intestinal microorganisms. The first metagenomic analysis of the inhabitants of a termite gut provides insight into this feat of biomass-to-energy conversion. The microbes catalyse the conversion of lignified plant cell walls to fermentation products which drive the metabolism of their host. Molecular phylogenetic data reveal the presence of hundreds of microbial species in this one microlitre-sized environment, but little was known about their functional diversity until now. These rich reservoirs of bacterial enzymes may be relevant to the conversion of lignocellulose (wood) into biofuels and other microbial products of interest.
Abstract: From the standpoints of both basic research and biotechnology, there is considerable interest in reaching a clearer understanding of the diversity of biological mechanisms employed during lignocellulose degradation. Globally, termites are an extremely successful group of wood-degrading organisms and are therefore important both for their roles in carbon turnover in the environment and as potential sources of biochemical catalysts for efforts aimed at converting wood into biofuels. Only recently have data supported any direct role for the symbiotic bacteria in the gut of the termite in cellulose and xylan hydrolysis. Here we use a metagenomic analysis of the bacterial community resident in the hindgut paunch of a wood-feeding Nasutitermes species (which do not contain cellulose-fermenting protozoa) to show the presence of a large, diverse set of bacterial genes for cellulose and xylan hydrolysis. Many of these genes were expressed in vivo or had cellulase activity in vitro, and further analyses implicate spirochete and fibrobacter species in gut lignocellulose degradation. New insights into other important symbiotic functions including H2 metabolism, CO2-reductive acetogenesis and N2 fixation are also provided by this first system-wide gene analysis of a microbial community specialized towards plant lignocellulose degradation. Our results underscore how complex even a one microlitre environment can be.
Tags: Bacteria, Biology, Biotechnology, Environment, Genetics, Microbiology, Science
This is remind me when I was a kid stay in country side in East Java, Indonesia. That is true because of termites wood-eating habits, termites sometimes do great damage to buildings and other wooden structures.
Termites habit of remaining concealed often results in their presence being undetected until the timbers are severely damaged and exhibit surface changes.
Once termites have entered a building they do not limit themselves just to wood, also damaging paper, cloth, carpets, and other cellulosic materials.