Patterns of interaction specificity of fungus-growing termites and Termitomyces symbionts in South Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Termites of the subfamily Macrotermitinae live in a mutualistic symbiosis with basidiomycete fungi of the genus Termitomyces. Here, we explored interaction specificity in fungus-growing termites using samples from 101 colonies in South-Africa and Senegal, belonging to eight species divided over three genera. Knowledge of interaction specificity is important to test the hypothesis that inhabitants (symbionts) are taxonomically less diverse than 'exhabitants' (hosts) and to test the hypothesis that transmission mode is an important determinant for interaction specificity.

Results

Analysis of Molecular Variance among symbiont ITS sequences across termite hosts at three hierarchical levels showed that 47 % of the variation occurred between genera, 18 % between species

SUBMITTER: Aanen DK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1963455 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature