Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., 66 (5), 1159–1163, 2002 Note Molecular Phylogeny of Symbiotic Basidiomycetes of Fungus-growing Termites in Thailand and Their Relationship with the Host Yaovapa TAPRAB,1,3 Moriya OHKUMA,1,2,† Toru JOHJIMA,1,2 Yoshimasa MAEDA,1 Shigeharu MORIYA,1,2,4 Tetsushi INOUE,1,2 Poonpilai SUWANARIT,3 Napavarn NOPARATNARAPORN,3 and Toshiaki KUDO1,2,4 1Microbiology Laboratory, RIKEN and 2Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan 3Department of Microbiology, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand 4Graduate School of Integrated Science, Yokohama City University, Tsurumi, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan Received November 27, 2001; Accepted January 9, 2002 Termitomyces-related symbiotic basidiomycetes in Tricholomataceae),9) and twelve species of Ter- the nests of fungus-growing termites (Macrotermitinae) mitomyces from southeast Asia have been de- of several genera in Thailand were cultivated and ana- scribed.10) Since these Termitomyces mushrooms lyzed phylogenetically based on the DNA sequence of have long pseudorhiza which connects to the surface nuclear ribosomal RNA genes. The relationships of the of the fungus comb, they have been considered to be symbiotic fungi with host termites and their locality symbiotic fungi found on the fungus comb as mycelia were apparently complex, supporting intricate mechan- and fungus nodules. To our knowledge, however, isms for the termites to acquire the symbionts. there has been no report about developing the fruit- ing body from mycelia of the symbiotic fungi in a Key words: symbiosis; termite; basidiomycete; Ter- laboratory. Moreover, the fruiting body has never mitomyces; phylogeny found associated with some species of fungus-grow- ing termites. Since mycelia give poor information Termites of the subfamily Macrotermitinae, so- about the taxonomy based on morphology, molecu- called fungus-growing termites, have a sophisticated lar sequences are expected to be useful to identify the and highly e‹cient symbiotic relationship with fungi. symbiotic fungi grown on the fungus comb. Also, a Fungus-growing termites are abundant in Asian and reliable phylogeny of the symbiotic fungi is im- African tropics and have a great impact on the portant in order to understand the symbiotic decomposition of dead plant material in those relationship with termites. In this study, we cultivat- ecosystems.1,2) The symbiotic fungi are responsible ed symbiotic fungi from the fungus combs of fungus- for the decomposition. In the nests of the termites, growing termites of several genera in Thailand. We the symbiotic fungi grow on a sponge-like structure analyzed the fungal symbionts based on nuclear (called a fungus comb) constructed by the termites ribosomal DNA sequences consisting of internal from litter. They are found as mycelia and white transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2), 5.8S rDNA, round structures (called fungus nodules) on the fun- and partial large subunit (LSU) rDNA. We compared gus comb surface. Both the fungi and the fungus the phylogeny of symbiotic fungi in relation to the comb are consumed by the termites. The symbiotic termite hosts and their locality. fungi have been proposed to play a ligninolytic role The termite hosts and their locations for the sam- to improve digestibility of cellulose for the ter- pling are listed in Table 1. The sampling sites were lo- mites,3,4) to supply cellulase and xylanase which work cated at distances of at least 70 km to one another in synergistically with endogenous enzymes,5–7) and to Thailand. For the samplings, we used a single fungus concentrate nutrients, particularly nitrogen, for the comb in a nest in each case except for one (we culti- termites.8) vated two strains from diŠerent nests in the case of In some cases, mushrooms appear on the termite Macrotermes annandalei in Khao Kitchagoot). nests in a particular season. These mushrooms are u- Fungus-nodules on fungus combs were carefully nique in nature, blooming only from the termite picked up with using sterile forceps, rinsed with an nests, and are commercially fascinating due to their about 0.6z sodium hypochlorite solution, washed prized edibility. They have been placed within the with sterile water, and cultivated on Potato-Dex- genus Termitomyces (Basidiomycota, Agaricales, trose-Agar (Nissui) in darkness at room temperature. † To whom correspondence should be addressed. Fax: +81-48-462-4672; E-mail: mohkuma＠mailman.riken.go.jp 1160 Y. TAPRAB et al. Table 1. Number of the Strains among the 38 Termitomyces-related Basidiomycetes in Each of the Eight Phylogenetic Groups location Hosttermite Group12345678 Prachinburi Macrotermes gilvus 5 Prachinburi Microtermes sp. 6 1 Prachinburi Odontotermes sp. 5 Saraburi Macrotermes carbonarius 5 Saraburi Hypotermes sp. 3 Saraburi Odontotermes longignathus 6 Saraburi Odontotermes sp. 2 Khao Kitchagoot Macrotermes annandalei* 11 Khao Kitchagoot Microtermes sp. 1 Khao Kitchagoot Odontotermes sp. 1 Nakronratchasima Odontotermes sp. 1 * The two strains were from diŠerent nests of this termite species. In the other cases, strains of each termite host were from only one fungus comb. From four out of ˆve genera of fungus-growing The programs implemented in PHYLIP 3.5c (dis- termites found in Thailand, a total of 39 strains were tributed by Felsenstein, J., Department of Genetics, successfully cultivated, which included one strain cul- University of Washington, Seattle) were used to infer tivated from the fruiting body of Termitomyces sp. the neighbor-joining and the parsimony trees and to (inoculated with the tissue of the internal part of the obtain bootstrap conˆdent estimates. The program stipe) blooming from the nest of Odontotermes sp. in PUZZLE 4.014) was used with 10,000 puzzling steps Nakronratchasima. The strains cultured in this study to infer the quartet-puzzling maximum likelihood have been deposited in the Japan Collection of tree. Microorganisms under the accession numbers Comparison of the sequence similarity showed that JCM11082-JCM11106, JCM11110, JCM11115, and 38 strains from the fungus-nodules and from the JCM11153-JCM11164. fruiting body of Termitomyces sp. were signiˆcantly Mycelia were grown for three weeks and their related. Among the 38 strains, the DNA sequence of DNA was extracted using an ISOPLANT kit the ITS1-5.8S rDNA-ITS2 region (530–645 bp) (Nippon Gene). The DNA region consisting of ITS1, showed more than 72z nucleotide identity to one 5.8S rDNA, ITS2, and partial LSU rDNA was ampli- another. Based on the comparison of the ITS1-5.8S ˆed by PCR with rTaq DNA polymerase (Toyobo). rDNA-ITS2 region, the 38 strains were classiˆed into The PCR primers used were ITS511) and LR7.12) The eight groups. Within each group, the DNA sequences PCR condition was for 35 cycles at 949C for 30 sec, showed more than 99z nucleotide identity to one 559C for 45 sec, and 729Cfor2min.ThePCR another. Strains between the groups 4 and 5 showed products (2.1 kbp) were puriˆed using a Wizard approximately 97z nucleotide identity to each other, PCRpreps DNA puriˆcation system (Promega). The whereas those between the other groups showed less puriˆed PCR products were used for either direct than 90z nucleotide identity to one another. The DNA sequencing as templates or cloning into a grouping was supported by phylogenetic analyses of pGEM-T vector (Promega). Plasmid DNA of the this DNA region (data not shown), in which the clones was ˆrstly analyzed by restriction fragment branching order of the groups was not strongly sup- length polymorphism with HaeIII and HhaI, con- ported except for the clustering of groups 1 and 2, ˆrming that the clones from a single strain were and that of groups 4 and 5. The DNA sequence of at equivalent to one another. Among the strains, we least 330 bp of the LSU rDNA region was analyzed in could not detect any heterokaryons, which, if all the 38 strains and showed more than 93z nucleo- present, would have given heterogeneity of the DNA tide identity to one another. The comparison of the sequence. Then, the DNA sequence of a representa- LSU rDNA region indicated that the strains within tive clone from each strain was analyzed by automat- each group showed more than 99z nucleotide identi- ed sequence analyzers (ABI model 3700 and 377) us- ty to one another, being consistent with the grouping ing the sequencing primers ITS2, ITS3, ITS4, ITS5,11) based on the ITS regions. However, this DNA region LROR, LR3, LR3R, LR5, and LR16.12) The nucleo- was too similar to distinguish the grouping in some tide sequence data found in this study will appear in cases. The strains between groups 1 and 2, and those the databases under accession numbers AB073496- between groups 4 and 5, showed more than 99z AB073545 and AB073739. nucleotide identity to each other, respectively. The DNA sequence data were aligned using the The longer LSU rDNA region (1.2–1.4 kbp) of at CLUSTAL W package13) and checked manually. least one representative of each of the eight groups Nucleotide positions of ambiguous alignments were was analyzed for their DNA sequences. All the omitted from the subsequent phylogenetic analyses. representatives of the eight groups were closely relat- Phylogenetic Relationship of Termite Symbiotic Fungi 1161 Fig. 1. Phylogenetic Positions of the Strains Symbiotic with Fungus-Growing Termites. The tree was inferred by the neighbor-joining method based on the LSU rDNA sequence. The bootstrap values for the neighbor- joining and parsimony methods and percent occurrence in the puzzling-steps (divided by slashes, in this order) are shown at node when they are above 50z. The bar indicates 0.05 nucleotide substitutions per position. The cluster consisting of Termitomyces and the basidiomycete strains cultivated in this study are indicated by the vertical bar on the left. The fungal family are described after the name of species. In the case of Chaetosphaeria aterrima (class Hypocreales), the family is unclassiˆed. The database accession number is given in parenthesis.