Localizing transcripts to single cells suggests an important role of uncultured deltaproteobacteria in the termite gut hydrogen economy.

ABSTRACT: Identifying microbes responsible for particular environmental functions is challenging, given that most environments contain an uncultivated microbial diversity. Here we combined approaches to identify bacteria expressing genes relevant to catabolite flow and to locate these genes within their environment, in this case the gut of a "lower," wood-feeding termite. First, environmental transcriptomics revealed that 2 of the 23 formate dehydrogenase (FDH) genes known in the system accounted for slightly more than one-half of environmental transcripts. FDH is an essential enzyme of H2 metabolism that is ultimately important for the assimilation of lignocellulose-derived energy by the insect. Second, single-cell PCR analysis revealed that two different bacterial types expressed these two transcr

SUBMITTER: Rosenthal AZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3791709 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature