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Termite Gut Flagellates and Their Methanogenic and Eubacterial Symbionts

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Book cover (Endo)symbiotic Methanogenic Archaea

Part of the book series: Microbiology Monographs ((MICROMONO,volume 19))

Abstract

Termites harbor an abundance and diversity of symbiotic microbes in their gut, which comprise all the three domains of life, Eucarya, Bacteria, and Archaea. One of the most prominent features of this microbiota is the cellular association of the gut flagellates with eubacteria and/or methanogenic archaea. The eubacterial and methanogenic symbionts are observed both inside and on the surface of the host flagellate cells. Recent technological advances in genomics have enabled researchers to predict the functions of these as-yet-uncultivable prokaryotic symbionts, in addition to their phylogenetic positions and specific localizations based on 16S rRNA analyses. Several complete and draft genome sequences of endo- and ectosymbionts of gut flagellates have shown consistency of their functions in spite of their taxonomic diversity.

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  1. Department of Life Science and Technology, School and Graduate School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuichi Hongoh

  2. Japan Collection of Microorganisms (JCM), RIKEN BioResource Research Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Yuichi Hongoh & Moriya Ohkuma

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  1. Yuichi Hongoh
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  2. Moriya Ohkuma
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Correspondence to Yuichi Hongoh .

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  1. IWWR, Faculty of Science, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Johannes H. P. Hackstein

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Hongoh, Y., Ohkuma, M. (2018). Termite Gut Flagellates and Their Methanogenic and Eubacterial Symbionts. In: Hackstein, J. (eds) (Endo)symbiotic Methanogenic Archaea. Microbiology Monographs, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98836-8_5

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