Disease-free monoculture farming by fungus-growing termites.
Saria Otani, Victoria L Challinor, Nina B Kreuzenbeck, Sara Kildgaard, Søren Krath Christensen, Louise Lee Munk Larsen, Duur K Aanen, Silas Anselm Rasmussen, Christine Beemelmanns, Michael Poulsen
Author Information
Saria Otani: Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Building 3, 2100, Copenhagen East, Denmark. ORCID
Victoria L Challinor: Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Building 3, 2100, Copenhagen East, Denmark.
Nina B Kreuzenbeck: Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Beutenbergstraße 11a, D-07745, Jena, Germany.
Sara Kildgaard: Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Building 3, 2100, Copenhagen East, Denmark.
Søren Krath Christensen: Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Building 3, 2100, Copenhagen East, Denmark.
Louise Lee Munk Larsen: Section for Organismal Biology, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 2000, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
Duur K Aanen: Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Silas Anselm Rasmussen: DTU Bioengineering, Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Søltofts Plads, Building 221, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
Christine Beemelmanns: Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Beutenbergstraße 11a, D-07745, Jena, Germany. ORCID
Michael Poulsen: Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Building 3, 2100, Copenhagen East, Denmark. mpoulsen@bio.ku.dk. ORCID
Fungus-growing termites engage in an obligate mutualistic relationship with Termitomyces fungi, which they maintain in monocultures on specialised fungus comb structures, without apparent problems with infectious diseases. While other fungi have been reported in the symbiosis, detailed comb fungal community analyses have been lacking. Here we use culture-dependent and -independent methods to characterise fungus comb mycobiotas from three fungus-growing termite species (two genera). Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) gene analyses using 454 pyrosequencing and Illumina MiSeq showed that non-Termitomyces fungi were essentially absent in fungus combs, and that Termitomyces fungal crops are maintained in monocultures as heterokaryons with two or three abundant ITS variants in a single fungal strain. To explore whether the essential absence of other fungi within fungus combs is potentially due to the production of antifungal metabolites by Termitomyces or comb bacteria, we performed in vitro assays and found that both Termitomyces and chemical extracts of fungus comb material can inhibit potential fungal antagonists. Chemical analyses of fungus comb material point to a highly complex metabolome, including compounds with the potential to play roles in mediating these contaminant-free farming conditions in the termite symbiosis.
Associated Data
Dryad | 10.5061/dryad.t6t12
References
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2013 Sep;79(17):5112-20
[PMID: 23793624]
