Acetogenesis from H2 plus CO2 and nitrogen fixation by an endosymbiotic spirochete of a termite-gut cellulolytic protist.

ABSTRACT: Symbiotic associations of cellulolytic eukaryotic protists and diverse bacteria are common in the gut microbial communities of termites. Besides cellulose degradation by the gut protists, reductive acetogenesis from H2 plus CO2 and nitrogen fixation by gut bacteria play crucial roles in the host termites' nutrition by contributing to the energy demand of termites and supplying nitrogen poor in their diet, respectively. Fractionation of these activities and the identification of key genes from the gut community of the wood-feeding termite Hodotermopsis sjoestedti revealed that substantial activities in the gut--nearly 60% of reductive acetogenesis and almost exclusively for nitrogen fixation--were uniquely attributed to the endosymbiotic bacteria of the cellulolytic protist in the genus Euc

SUBMITTER: Ohkuma M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4547241 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature