Gut microbial compositions mirror caste-specific diets in a major lineage of social insects.

ABSTRACT: Social insects owe their ecological success to the division of labour between castes, but associations between microbial community compositions and castes with different tasks and diets have not been extensively explored. Fungus-growing termites associate with fungi to degrade plant material, complemented by diverse gut microbial communities. Here, we explore whether division of labour and accompanying dietary differences between fungus-growing termite castes are linked to gut bacterial community structure. Using amplicon sequencing, we characterize community compositions in sterile (worker and soldier) and reproductive (queen and king) termites and combine this with gut enzyme activities and microscopy to hypothesise sterile caste-specific microbiota roles. Gut bacterial communities are s

SUBMITTER: Otani S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6850719 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature