Metagenomic and functional analysis of hindgut microbiota of a wood-feeding higher termite

Falk Warnecke, Peter Luginbühl, Natalia Ivanova, Majid Ghassemian, Toby H. Richardson, Justin T. Stege, Michelle Cayouette, Alice C. McHardy, Gordana Djordjevic, Nahla Aboushadi, Rotem Sorek, Susannah G. Tringe, Mircea Podar, Hector Garcia Martin, Victor Kunin, Daniel Dalevi, Julita Madejska, Edward Kirton, Darren Platt, Ernest Szeto, Asaf Salamov, Kerrie Barry, Natalia Mikhailova, Nikos C. Kyrpides, Eric G. Matson, Elizabeth A. Ottesen, Xinning Zhang, Myriam Hernández, Catalina Murillo, Luis G. Acosta, Isidore Rigoutsos, Giselle Tamayo, Brian D. Green, Cathy Chang, Edward M. Rubin, Eric J. Mathur, Dan E. Robertson, Philip Hugenholtz and Jared R. Leadbetter ()
Additional contact information
Falk Warnecke: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Peter Luginbühl: Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), 4955 Directors Place, San Diego, California 92121, USA
Natalia Ivanova: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Majid Ghassemian: Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), 4955 Directors Place, San Diego, California 92121, USA
Toby H. Richardson: Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), 4955 Directors Place, San Diego, California 92121, USA
Justin T. Stege: Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), 4955 Directors Place, San Diego, California 92121, USA
Michelle Cayouette: Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), 4955 Directors Place, San Diego, California 92121, USA
Alice C. McHardy: IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, PO Box 218, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA
Gordana Djordjevic: Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), 4955 Directors Place, San Diego, California 92121, USA
Nahla Aboushadi: Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), 4955 Directors Place, San Diego, California 92121, USA
Rotem Sorek: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Susannah G. Tringe: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Mircea Podar: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6026, USA
Hector Garcia Martin: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Victor Kunin: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Daniel Dalevi: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Julita Madejska: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Edward Kirton: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Darren Platt: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Ernest Szeto: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Asaf Salamov: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Kerrie Barry: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Natalia Mikhailova: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Nikos C. Kyrpides: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Eric G. Matson: Department of Environmental Science and Engineering,
Elizabeth A. Ottesen: Mailcode 138-78, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
Xinning Zhang: Department of Environmental Science and Engineering,
Myriam Hernández: INBio, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
Catalina Murillo: INBio, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
Luis G. Acosta: INBio, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
Isidore Rigoutsos: IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, PO Box 218, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA
Giselle Tamayo: INBio, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
Brian D. Green: Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), 4955 Directors Place, San Diego, California 92121, USA
Cathy Chang: Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), 4955 Directors Place, San Diego, California 92121, USA
Edward M. Rubin: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Eric J. Mathur: Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), 4955 Directors Place, San Diego, California 92121, USA
Dan E. Robertson: Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), 4955 Directors Place, San Diego, California 92121, USA
Philip Hugenholtz: DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA
Jared R. Leadbetter: Department of Environmental Science and Engineering,

Nature, 2007, vol. 450, issue 7169, 560-565

Abstract: Termites turn to wood Wood-feeding higher termites are a very successful group, important in facilitating carbon turnover in the environment. It is not the termites themselves that perform the key reactions that makes their lifestyle possible, but the lignocellulase-degrading symbiotic bacteria found in their hindgut. A metagenomic analysis of gut microbes from over 150 tree-living termites from a Costa Rican rainforest has revealed a diverse range of bacterial cellulase and xylan hydrolase genes, as well as genes important in other symbiotic functions. The data set includes about 1,000 bacterial lignocellulose hydrolase enzymes, some of them expressed in situ, in living termites. This work shows that termites are a rich reservoir of bacterial enzymes that might be used in the conversion of woody material into biofuels.

Date: 2007
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06269 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:450:y:2007:i:7169:d:10.1038_nature06269

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature06269

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().