Bugs in bugs: the microbial diversity of the termite gut.

Abstract

The Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae), is dependent on its microbial gut community. The gut flora consists of three species of protists and an unknown number of bacteria species, which play a key role in physiology, nutrition and gut ecology of the termite host. Because C. formosanus depends on its gut flora for survival, alternative termite control strategies could be devised using the gut flora of termites as tools and targets for termite control. However, before such strategies can be developed, detailed knowledge about the microbial diversity in the termite gut is sorely needed. In this study, we used culture-independent 16S rRNA gene sequencing in conjunction with classical culture methods to describe the microbial diversity in the gut of C. formosanus.