Caste-specific nutritional differences define carbon and nitrogen fluxes within symbiotic food webs in African termite mounds.

Diferenças nutricionais específicas de casta definem os fluxos de carbono e nitrogênio em redes tróficas simbióticas em cupinzeiros africanos.

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ID: 65471
2019
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Abstract
Fungus-growing termites of the genus Macrotermes cultivate symbiotic fungi (Termitomyces) in their underground nest chambers to degrade plant matter collected from the environment. Although the general mechanism of food processing is relatively well-known, it has remained unclear whether the termites get their nutrition primarily from the fungal mycelium or from plant tissues partly decomposed by the fungus. To elucidate the flows of carbon and nitrogen in the complicated food-chains within the nests of fungus-growing termites, we determined the stable isotope signatures of different materials sampled from four Macrotermes colonies in southern Kenya. Stable isotopes of carbon revealed that the termite queen and the young larvae are largely sustained by the fungal mycelium. Conversely, all adult workers and soldiers seem to feed predominantly on plant and/or fungus comb material, demonstrating that the fungal symbiont plays a different nutritional role for different termite castes. Nitrogen stable isotopes indicated additional differences between castes and revealed intriguing patterns in colony nitrogen cycling. Nitrogen is effectively recycled within the colonies, but also a presently unspecified nitrogen source, most likely symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria, seems to contribute to nitrogen supply. Our results indicate that the gut microbiota of the termite queen might be largely responsible for the proposed nitrogen fixation.
Os cupins cultivadores de fungos do gênero *Macrotermes* cultivam fungos simbióticos (*Termitomyces*) nas câmaras subterrâneas de seus ninhos para degradar a matéria vegetal coletada no ambiente. Embora o mecanismo geral de processamento do alimento seja relativamente bem conhecido, permanece incerto se os cupins obtêm sua nutrição primariamente do micélio fúngico ou de tecidos vegetais parcialmente decompostos pelo fungo. Para elucidar os fluxos de carbono e nitrogênio nas complexas cadeias alimentares no interior dos ninhos de cupins cultivadores de fungos, determinamos as assinaturas de isótopos estáveis de diferentes materiais amostrados em quatro colônias de *Macrotermes* no sul do Quênia. Os isótopos estáveis de carbono revelaram que a rainha e as larvas jovens são sustentadas em grande parte pelo micélio fúngico. Por outro lado, todos os operários e soldados adultos parecem se alimentar predominantemente de material vegetal e/ou do pente de fungos, demonstrando que o simbionte fúngico desempenha um papel nutricional diferente para distintas castas de cupins. Os isótopos estáveis de nitrogênio indicaram diferenças adicionais entre as castas e revelaram padrões intrigantes na ciclagem de nitrogênio da colônia. O nitrogênio é efetivamente reciclado dentro das colônias, mas uma fonte de nitrogênio atualmente não especificada, muito provavelmente bactérias simbióticas fixadoras de nitrogênio, também parece contribuir para o suprimento desse elemento. Nossos resultados indicam que a microbiota intestinal da rainha pode ser em grande parte responsável pela fixação de nitrogênio proposta.
Reference Key
vesala2019castespecificscientific Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Vesala, Risto;Arppe, Laura;Rikkinen, Jouko;
Journal Scientific reports
Year 2019
DOI
10.1038/s41598-019-53153-x
URL
Keywords
Globalization obesity review

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