Complementary Symbiont Contributions to Plant Decomposition in a Fungus-Farming Termite
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Evolution and Ecology of Termite Nesting Behavior and Its Impact On
1 Evolution and Ecology of Termite Nesting Behavior and Its Impact on Disease Susceptibility A dissertation presented by Marielle Aimée Postava-Davignon to The Department of Biology In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Biology Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts April, 2010 2 Evolution and Ecology of Termite Nesting Behavior and Its Impact on Disease Susceptibility by Marielle Aimée Postava-Davignon ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biology in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Northeastern University, April, 2010 3 Abstract Termites construct nests that are often structurally species-specific. They exhibit a high diversity of nest structures, but their nest evolution is largely unknown. Current hypotheses for the factors that influenced nest evolution include adaptations that improved nest thermoregulation, defense against predators, and competition for limited nest sites. Studies have shown a lower prevalence of pathogens and parasites in arboreal nesting animal species compared to ground nesters. Nest building behavior is plastic and can adapt to changing environments. As termites can detect and avoid pathogens, I hypothesized that the evolution of arboreal termite nests was an adaptation to avoid infection. To test this, bacteria and fungi from nest cores, trails, and surrounding soils of the arboreal nesting Nasutitermes acajutlae were cultured. Abiotic factors such as temperature, relative humidity, and light were measured to elucidate how they influenced the interactions between termites and microbes. Fungi associated with N. acajutlae were identified to determine the potential pathogenic pressures these termites encounter in their nest as compared to the external environment. -
In Termite Nests (Blattodea: Termitidae) in a Cocoa Plantation in Brazil Biota Neotropica, Vol
Biota Neotropica ISSN: 1676-0611 [email protected] Instituto Virtual da Biodiversidade Brasil Teixeira Lisboa, Jonathas; Guerreiro Couto, Erminda da Conceição; Pereira Santos, Pollyanna; Charles Delabie, Jacques Hubert; Araujo, Paula Beatriz Terrestrial isopods (Crustacea: Isopoda: Oniscidea) in termite nests (Blattodea: Termitidae) in a cocoa plantation in Brazil Biota Neotropica, vol. 13, núm. 3, julio-septiembre, 2013, pp. 393-397 Instituto Virtual da Biodiversidade Campinas, Brasil Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=199128991039 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Biota Neotrop., vol. 13, no. 3 Terrestrial isopods (Crustacea: Isopoda: Oniscidea) in termite nests (Blattodea: Termitidae) in a cocoa plantation in Brazil Jonathas Teixeira Lisboa1,7, Erminda da Conceição Guerreiro Couto2, Pollyanna Pereira Santos3, Jacques Hubert Charles Delabie4,5 & Paula Beatriz Araujo6 1Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz – UESC, Campus Soane Nazaré de Andrade, Rod. Ilhéus-Itabuna, km 16, CEP 45662-900, Ilhéus, BA, Brasil. www.uesc.br/zoologia 2Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz – UESC, Campus Soane Nazaré de Andrade, Rod. Ilhéus-Itabuna, km 16, CEP 45662-900, Ilhéus, BA, Brasil. www.uesc.br/cursos/pos_graduacao/mestrado/ppsat 3Universidade Federal de Viçosa – UFV, CEP 36570-000 Viçosa, MG, Brasil. www.pos.entomologia.ufv.br 4Departamento de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz – UESC, Campus Soane Nazaré de Andrade, Rod. Ilhéus-Itabuna, km 16, CEP 45662-900, Ilhéus, BA, Brasil. www.uesc.br/dcaa/index.php 5Laboratório de Mirmecologia, Convênio UESC/CEPLAC, Centro de Pesquisa do Cacau, CP 7, CEP 45600-000 Itabuna, BA, Brasil. -
Nesting Habit of the Termite Nasutitermes Corniger (Isoptera: Termitidae) on St
Nesting Habit of the Termite Nasutitermes corniger (Isoptera: Termitidae) on St. Eustatius, a Very Small Oceanic Island Christopher K. Starr Starr, C.K. 2015. Nesting Habit of the Termite Nasutitermes corniger (Isoptera: Termitidae) on St. Eustatius, a Very Small Oceanic Islands. Living World, Journal of The Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists’ Club , 2015, 62-63. 62 Living World, J. Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists’ Club, 2015 Nesting Habit of the Termite Nasutitermes corniger ,soptera Termitidae on St. Eustatius, a Very Small Oceanic Island Nasutitermes corniger (Motschulsky) is very wide- trees. Nasutitermes corniger is very abundant throughout spread in the Neotropics, including the West Indies most of the lower- and mid-level forest. &RQVWDQWLQR6FKHIIUDKQet al. ZKHUHLWVGLV- Preliminary observations suggested that a) unlike else- tinctive brown, dimpled nests are a conspicuous landscape ZKHUHLQWKH/HVVHU$QWLOOHVDVLJQL¿FDQWIUDFWLRQRIQHVWV IHDWXUH,WVFRYHUHGJDOOHULHVPPZLGHDUHUHDGLO\ was not attached to a tree base, and b) nests were never seen running up tree trunks and along major branches. On associated with B. simaruba. the continent and continental islands, the nests are usually On a walk through mid-level forest, I recorded the above ground on trees, whilst in the Lesser Antilles they positions of 50 N. corniger nests. None was above ground DUHXVXDOO\DWWKHEDVHVRIWUHHV &.6WDUUDQG,.DUViL level, nor was any at or close to the base of any B. simaru- unpubl.). Where colony foundation has been studied, col- ba. I noted no galleries on B. simaruba trunks. Thirty of onies are characteristically initiated at ground level and the 50 nests were directly attached to tree bases, whilst may later move to a higher level (T. -
Diversity, Nutritional Composition and Medicinal Potential of Indian Mushrooms: a Review
Vol. 13(4), pp. 523-545, 22 January, 2014 DOI: 10.5897/AJB2013.13446 ISSN 1684-5315 ©2014 Academic Journals African Journal of Biotechnology http://www.academicjournals.org/AJB Review Diversity, nutritional composition and medicinal potential of Indian mushrooms: A review Hrudayanath Thatoi* and Sameer Kumar Singdevsachan Department of Biotechnology, College of Engineering and Technology, Biju Patnaik University of Technology, Bhubaneswar-751003, Odisha, India. Accepted 2 January, 2014 Mushrooms are the higher fungi which have long been used for food and medicinal purposes. They have rich nutritional value with high protein content (up to 44.93%), vitamins, minerals, fibers, trace elements and low calories and lack cholesterol. There are 14,000 known species of mushrooms of which 2,000 are safe for human consumption and about 650 of these possess medicinal properties. Among the total known mushrooms, approximately 850 species are recorded from India. Many of them have been used in food and folk medicine for thousands of years. Mushrooms are also sources of bioactive substances including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antioxidant, antiinflammatory, anticancer, antitumour, anti-HIV and antidiabetic activities. Nutriceuticals and medicinal mushrooms have been used in human health development in India as food, medicine, minerals among others. The present review aims to update the current status of mushrooms diversity in India with their nutritional and medicinal potential as well as ethnomedicinal uses for different future prospects in pharmaceutical application. Key words: Mushroom diversity, nutritional value, therapeutic potential, bioactive compound. INTRODUCTION Mushroom is a general term used mainly for the fruiting unexamined mushrooms will be only 5%, implies that body of macrofungi (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota) there are 7,000 yet undiscovered species, which if and represents only a short reproductive stage in their life discovered will be provided with the possible benefit to cycle (Das, 2010). -
Prospects & Overviews Orthology Prediction Methods: a Quality Assessment Using Curated Protein Families
Prospects & Overviews Methods, Models & Techniques Orthology prediction methods: A quality assessment using curated protein families Kalliopi Trachana1), Tomas A. Larsson1)2), Sean Powell1), Wei-Hua Chen1), Tobias Doerks1), Jean Muller3)4) and Peer Bork1)5)Ã The increasing number of sequenced genomes has Introduction prompted the development of several automated orthology prediction methods. Tests to evaluate the accuracy of pre- The analysis of fully sequenced genomes offers valuable insights into the function and evolution of biological systems dictions and to explore biases caused by biological and [1]. The annotation of newly sequenced genomes, comparative technical factors are therefore required. We used 70 man- and functional genomics, and phylogenomics depend on ually curated families to analyze the performance of five reliable descriptions of the evolutionary relationships of public methods in Metazoa. We analyzed the strengths protein families. All the members within a protein family and weaknesses of the methods and quantified the impact are homologous and can be further separated into orthologs, of biological and technical challenges. From the latter part which are genes derived through speciation from a single ancestral sequence, and paralogs, which are genes resulting of the analysis, genome annotation emerged as the largest from duplication events before and after speciation (out- and single influencer, affecting up to 30% of the performance. in-paralogy, respectively) [2, 3]. The large number of fully Generally, most methods did well in assigning orthologous sequenced genomes and the fundamental role of orthology group but they failed to assign the exact number of genes in modern biology have led to the development of a plethora of forhalfofthegroups.Thepublicly available benchmark set methods (e.g. -
Fiber-Associated Spirochetes Are Major Agents of Hemicellulose Degradation in the Hindgut of Wood-Feeding Higher Termites
Fiber-associated spirochetes are major agents of hemicellulose degradation in the hindgut of wood-feeding higher termites Gaku Tokudaa,b,1, Aram Mikaelyanc,d, Chiho Fukuia, Yu Matsuuraa, Hirofumi Watanabee, Masahiro Fujishimaf, and Andreas Brunec aTropical Biosphere Research Center, Center of Molecular Biosciences, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, 903-0213 Okinawa, Japan; bGraduate School of Engineering and Science, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, 903-0213 Okinawa, Japan; cResearch Group Insect Gut Microbiology and Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, 35043 Marburg, Germany; dDepartment of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607; eBiomolecular Mimetics Research Unit, Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, 305-8634 Ibaraki, Japan; and fDepartment of Sciences, Graduate School of Sciences and Technology for Innovation, Yamaguchi University, Yoshida 1677-1, 753-8512 Yamaguchi, Japan Edited by Nancy A. Moran, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, and approved November 5, 2018 (received for review June 25, 2018) Symbiotic digestion of lignocellulose in wood-feeding higher digestion in the hindgut of higher termites must be attributed to termites (family Termitidae) is a two-step process that involves their entirely prokaryotic microbial community (5). endogenous host cellulases secreted in the midgut and a dense The gut microbiota of higher termites comprises more than bacterial community in the hindgut compartment. The genomes of 1,000 bacterial phylotypes, which are organized into distinc- the bacterial gut microbiota encode diverse cellulolytic and hemi- tive communities colonizing the microhabitats provided by the cellulolytic enzymes, but the contributions of host and bacterial compartmentalized intestine, including the highly differentiated symbionts to lignocellulose degradation remain ambiguous. -
Evaluation of the Chemical Defense Fluids of Macrotermes Carbonarius
www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Evaluation of the chemical defense fuids of Macrotermes carbonarius and Globitermes sulphureus as possible household repellents and insecticides S. Appalasamy1,2*, M. H. Alia Diyana2, N. Arumugam2 & J. G. Boon3 The use of chemical insecticides has had many adverse efects. This study reports a novel perspective on the application of insect-based compounds to repel and eradicate other insects in a controlled environment. In this work, defense fuid was shown to be a repellent and insecticide against termites and cockroaches and was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC– MS). Globitermes sulphureus extract at 20 mg/ml showed the highest repellency for seven days against Macrotermes gilvus and for thirty days against Periplaneta americana. In terms of toxicity, G. sulphureus extract had a low LC50 compared to M. carbonarius extract against M. gilvus. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of the M. carbonarius extract indicated the presence of six insecticidal and two repellent compounds in the extract, whereas the G. sulphureus extract contained fve insecticidal and three repellent compounds. The most obvious fnding was that G. sulphureus defense fuid had higher potential as a natural repellent and termiticide than the M. carbonarius extract. Both defense fuids can play a role as alternatives in the search for new, sustainable, natural repellents and termiticides. Our results demonstrate the potential use of termite defense fuid for pest management, providing repellent and insecticidal activities comparable to those of other green repellent and termiticidal commercial products. A termite infestation could be silent, but termites are known as destructive urban pests that cause structural damage by infesting wooden and timber structures, leading to economic loss. -
MACROFUNGAL WEALTH of KUSUMHI FOREST of GORAKHPUR, UP, INDIA Chandrawati, Pooja Singh*, Narendra Kumar, N.N
American International Journal of Available online at http://www.iasir.net Research in Formal, Applied & Natural Sciences ISSN (Print): 2328-3777, ISSN (Online): 2328-3785, ISSN (CD-ROM): 2328-3793 AIJRFANS is a refereed, indexed, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary and open access journal published by International Association of Scientific Innovation and Research (IASIR), USA (An Association Unifying the Sciences, Engineering, and Applied Research) MACROFUNGAL WEALTH OF KUSUMHI FOREST OF GORAKHPUR, UP, INDIA Chandrawati, Pooja Singh*, Narendra Kumar, N.N. Tripathi Bacteriology and Natural Pesticide Laboratory Department of Botany, DDU Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur - 273009 (UP). Abstract: The Kusumhi forest of Gorakhpur is a natural habitat of a number of macrofungi. During present study in the year 2002-05, frequent survey of Kusumhi forest were made for collection of naturally growing macrofungi. A total of 29 macrofungal species belonging to 12 families were observed, Tricholomataceae was predominant. Out of 29 spp. collected 4 were excellently edible, 6 edible, 18 inedible and 1 poisonous. Ganoderma applanatum, Lycoperdon pyriforme, Termitomyces heimii and Tuber aestivum were of medicinal importance, used by local people for wound healing, coagulation of blood, as tonic and in health care respectively. These macrofungi were observed in humid soil, sandy soil, calcareous soil and on wood log, wood, leaf litter, leaf heaps, decaying wood log, troops of rotten wood, Shorea robusta, Tectona grandis as well as on termite nests. 25 species were saprophytic while 2 species were parasitic in nature. Key words: Macrofungi, Diversity, Kusumhi forest. I. INTRODUCTION The Kusumhi forest is located at a distance of 5 km from city head quarter of Gorakhpur and lies in the North East corner of Uttar Pradesh between 2605' and 27029' North latitude and 8304' and 83057' East longitude and covers an area of about 5000 hectares. -
Antiradical and Antioxidant Activities of Methanolic Extracts of Indigenous Termitarian Mushroom from Tanzania
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by International Institute for Science, Technology and Education (IISTE): E-Journals Food Science and Quality Management www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-6088 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0557 (Online) Vol 7, 2012 Antiradical and antioxidant activities of methanolic extracts of indigenous termitarian mushroom from Tanzania Donatha Damian Tibuhwa Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (MBB) P.O.BOx 35179, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Tel: +255 222 410223 E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Termitomyces mushrooms grow symbiotically with termites. They are abundantly distributed in the country, mostly consumed and liked by people. However, their antiradical and antioxidants activities are not yet established. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative values of antiradical and antioxidant of crude methanolic extracts of six Termitomyces species ( T. titanicus , T. aurantiacus , T. letestui , T. clypeatus, T. microcarpus and T. eurhizus ) were investigated. The investigation used DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) free radical as a substrate to determine both scavenging abilities and antiradical activities. Antioxidant was further analysed quantitatively for β-carotene, flavonoid content, total phenolic compounds and vitamin C content in the crude methanolic extracts using spectrophotometric assay at 515 ηm. The result showed that they all exhibited scavenging ability and antiradical activity although the ability differed markedly among the species. The highest antiradical activity unit (EAU 515 ) was from T. microcarpus (EAU 515 1.48) followed by T. aurantiacus (EAU 515 1.43) while the lowest was from T. eurhizus (EAU 515 0.7). The scavenging power was also highest in T. -
The Impact of Edge Effect on Termite Community (Blattodea: Isoptera) in Fragments of Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest C
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.17815 Original Article The impact of edge effect on termite community (Blattodea: Isoptera) in fragments of Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest C. S. Almeidaa,b, P. F. Cristaldob, D. F. Florencioc, E. J. M. Ribeirob, N. G. Cruza,b, E. A. Silvad, D. A. Costae and A. P. A. Araújob* aPrograma de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Universidade Federal de Sergipe – UFS, Av. Marechal Rondon, s/n, Jardim Rosa Elze, CEP 49100-000, São Cristóvão, SE, Brazil bLaboratório de Interações Ecológicas, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Sergipe – UFS, Av. Marechal Rondon, s/n, Jardim Rosa Elze, CEP 49100-000, São Cristóvão, SE, Brazil cDepartamento de Agrotecnologia e Ciências Sociais, Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido – UFERSA, BR 110, Km 47, Bairro Pres. Costa e Silva, CP 137, CEP 59625-900, Mossoró, RN, Brazil dPrograma de Pós-graduação em Ciências Ambientais, Universidade Federal de Rondônia – UNIR, Av. Norte Sul, 7300, Bairro Nova Morada, CEP 76940-000, Rolim de Moura, RO, Brazil eDepartamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso – UNEMAT, Rod. MT. 358, Km 07, Jd. Aeroporto, CEP 78300-000, Tangará da Serra, MT, Brazil *e-mail: [email protected] Received: October 29, 2015 – Accepted: April 13, 2016 – Distributed: August 31, 2017 (With 1 figure) Abstract Habitat fragmentation is considered to be one of the biggest threats to tropical ecosystem functioning. In this region, termites perform an important ecological role as decomposers and ecosystem engineers. In the present study, we tested whether termite community is negatively affected by edge effects on three fragments of Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. -
Intracolonial Demography of the Mound-Building Termite Macrotermes Natalensis (Haviland) (Isoptera, Termitidae) in the Northern Kruger National Park, South Africa
Insectes soc. 47 (2000) 390–397 0020-1812/00/040390-08 $ 1.50+0.20/0 Insectes Sociaux © Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2000 Research article Intracolonial demography of the mound-building termite Macrotermes natalensis (Haviland) (Isoptera, Termitidae) in the northern Kruger National Park, South Africa V.W. Meyer 1, *, R.M. Crewe 1,L.E.O.Braack2, H.T. Groeneveld 3 and M.J. van der Linde 3 1 Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa, e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] 2 Department of Conservation Development, Kruger National Park, Skukuza, 1350, South Africa, e-mail: [email protected] 3 Department of Statistics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa, e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] * Correspondence address: PO Box 1969, Wingate Park, 0153, South Africa Received 14 January 2000; revised 18 September 2000; accepted 26 September 2000. Summary. This paper reports on the number of individuals todeally (from the rectum). Secondly, termites have been in Macrotermes natalensis (Hav.) colonies of different sized shown to fix nitrogen (Curtis and Waller, 1998). If the nitro- mounds in the northern Kruger National Park. Mounds were gen fixation rate per individual termite is known, caste num- fully excavated, termites collected by means of vacuuming, bers and proportions provided by the present study can be and colony size estimated by sub-sampling. The proportion used to accurately derive overall nitrogen fixation, as rates of of termites in the mound (above and underground sections) fixation vary among species and castes via microbes and amounts to more than 70% of the colony; the rest being pre- fungi (e.g., Matsumoto and Abe, 1979; Collins, 1983). -
Peregrine and Saker Falcon Genome Sequences Provide Insights Into Evolution of a Predatory Lifestyle
LETTERS OPEN Peregrine and saker falcon genome sequences provide insights into evolution of a predatory lifestyle Xiangjiang Zhan1,7, Shengkai Pan2,7, Junyi Wang2,7, Andrew Dixon3, Jing He2, Margit G Muller4, Peixiang Ni2, Li Hu2, Yuan Liu2, Haolong Hou2, Yuanping Chen2, Jinquan Xia2, Qiong Luo2, Pengwei Xu2, Ying Chen2, Shengguang Liao2, Changchang Cao2, Shukun Gao2, Zhaobao Wang2, Zhen Yue2, Guoqing Li2, Ye Yin2, Nick C Fox3, Jun Wang5,6 & Michael W Bruford1 As top predators, falcons possess unique morphological, 16,263 genes were predicted for F. peregrines, and 16,204 were pre- physiological and behavioral adaptations that allow them to be dicted for F. cherrug (Supplementary Table 6 and Supplementary successful hunters: for example, the peregrine is renowned as Note). Approximately 92% of these genes were functionally annotated the world’s fastest animal. To examine the evolutionary basis of using homology-based methods (Supplementary Table 7). predatory adaptations, we sequenced the genomes of both the Comparative genome analysis was carried out to assess evolution peregrine (Falco peregrinus) and saker falcon (Falco cherrug), and innovation within falcons using related genomes with comparable All rights reserved. and we present parallel, genome-wide evidence for evolutionary assembly quality (Supplementary Table 8). Orthologous genes were innovation and selection for a predatory lifestyle. The genomes, identified in the chicken, zebra finch, turkey, peregrine and saker assembled using Illumina deep sequencing with greater than using the program TreeFam3. For the five genome-enabled avian spe- 100-fold coverage, are both approximately 1.2 Gb in length, cies, a maximum-likelihood phylogeny using 861,014 4-fold degen- with transcriptome-assisted prediction of approximately 16,200 erate sites from 6,267 single-copy orthologs confirmed that chicken America, Inc.