This study examined the responses of two termite species, the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, and the eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar), to three types of wood decay fungi: a brown rot fungus, Gloeophyllum trabeum (Persoon: Fries) Murrill; a white rot fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium Burdsall; and a litter rot fungus, Marasmiellus t...

A phylogenetic analysis of the sequences of 60 clones of archaeal small-subunit rRNA genes amplified from the termite Reticulitermes speratus revealed that most of them (56 clones) clustered in the genus Methanobrevibacter. Three clones were classified in the order Thermoplasmales. The Methanobrevibacter-related symbionts were detected by in situ hybridization analysis.

The hindgut of the termite Reticulitermes flavipes harbors a complex symbiotic community consisting of protists, bacteria, and archaea. These symbionts aid in the digestion of lignocellulose from the termite's wood meal. Termite hindguts were sampled and the V4 hyper-variable region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced and analyzed from individual termites. The core microbiota of worker termites ...

We investigated the bacterial gut microbiota from 32 colonies of wood-feeding termites, comprising four Microcerotermes species (Termitidae) and four Reticulitermes species (Rhinotermitidae), using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and clonal analysis of 16S rRNA. The obtained molecular community profiles were compared statistically between individuals, colonies, locati...

The movement of some soil termiticides among subterranean termites from exposed to naive individuals has raised some interesting questions. Thus far, the only compounds specifically examined for transfer have been termiticides with delayed action, non-repellent active ingredients. We hypothesized that movement of pesticide is possible even for traditional fast-acting repellent termiticides, whe...

In 1959, P. Karlson and M. Lüscher introduced the term 'pheromone', broadly used nowadays for various chemicals involved in intraspecific communication. To demonstrate the term, they depicted the situation in termite societies, where king and queen inhibit the reproduction of nest-mates by an unknown chemical substance. Paradoxically, half a century later, neither the source nor the chemical id...

Social insects exhibit remarkable variation in their colony breeding structures, both within and among species. Ecological factors are believed to be important in shaping reproductive traits of social insect colonies, yet there is little information linking specific environmental variables with differences in breeding structure. Subterranean termites (Rhinotermitidae) show exceptional variation...

Elizabethkingia sp. BM10 was isolated from the hindgut of the wood-feeding termite Reticulitermes speratus KMT1. It had cellobiohydrolase and β-glucosidase activities but not endo-β-glucanase activity. The complete sequence of its genome, which has a total size of 4,242,519 bases, is reported here. The genomic analysis identified six β-glucosidase candidate genes and three β-glucanase candidate...