Wood fibers are a crucial microhabitat for cellulose- and xylan- degrading bacteria in the hindgut of the wood-feeding beetle Odontotaenius disjunctus.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Wood digestion in insects relies on the maintenance of a mosaic of numerous microhabitats, each colonized by distinct microbiomes. Understanding the division of digestive labor between these microhabitats- is central to understanding the physiology and evolution of symbiotic wood digestion. A microhabitat that has emerged to be of direct relevance to the process of lignocellulose digestion is the surface of ingested plant material. Wood particles in the guts of some termites are colonized by a specialized bacterial fiber-digesting microbiome, but whether this represents a widespread strategy among insect lineages that have independently evolved wood-feeding remains an open question.

Methods

In this study, we investigated the bacterial communities specifically as

SUBMITTER: Schwarz M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10338082 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature