The Microbial Metagenome of the Termite Hindgut

白蚁后肠的微生物宏基因组

• 批准号: 1754337
• 负责人: Gillian Gile
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-07-01 至 2023-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1754337&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Microbial; Metagenome; Termite; Hindgut

Termites have the remarkable ability to survive on a diet of wood. From one perspective, this can be a big problem, costing billions in damage repair to man-made structures and termite eradication. On the other hand, it is also an opportunity to understand how energy can be efficiently extracted from wood. Termites rely on a complex community of microorganisms in their hindgut to break down wood and provide energy for themselves. However, the identity of many of these organisms, and the specific roles they each play in wood digestion, are still unknown. This research focuses on a highly invasive and destructive subterranean species of termite, and aims to identify the community diversity of their associated microorganisms and to understand their specific roles in the wood digestion process. This can be achieved in part through genome sequencing, as each microorganism's metabolic capabilities can be predicted from its genome sequence. This information is fundamentally important for science and society as it may enable exploring alternative approaches to biological termite control as well as biofuel and biomaterial production. In addition to providing research training for students, this project also develops an interactive outreach module for K-12 students to help spark appreciation for science, technology, and engineering research.The Coptotermes formosanus hindgut community includes large, complex eukaryotic microbes called hypermastigotes. Their genomes are unexplored but are expected to be very large, necessitating deep sequencing. The hindgut community also includes bacteria, archaea, and viruses, at highly variable abundances. To adequately sequence microbes from each of these "domains" of life, enrichment steps will be performed before sequencing, namely isolation of hypermastigote nuclei, isolation of viral particles, and rolling-circle amplification of lower abundance bacterial genomes. Assembled microbial genomes will be identified by 16S or 18S ribosomal RNA genes, so that carbohydrate active enzyme genes can be assigned to microbial species. Nitrogen fixing capability will also be inferred by quantitative real-time PCR of nifH genes. For the most abundant bacteria, their symbiotic status (ectosymbiont, endosymbiont, or free swimming) will be determined through fluorescent in-situ hybridization. By identifying and inferring the metabolic capabilities of each microbe in the hindgut bioreactor, this project will lay the groundwork for a deeper understanding of efficient wood digestion.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

白蚁有惊人的能力以木材为食。从一个角度来看，这可能是一个大问题，花费数十亿美元修复人造结构和消灭白蚁。另一方面，这也是一个了解如何从木材中有效提取能源的机会。白蚁依靠后肠中复杂的微生物群落来分解木材并为自己提供能量。然而，许多这些生物的身份，以及它们各自在木材消化中发挥的具体作用，仍然是未知的。本研究的重点是一种高度侵入性和破坏性的地下白蚁，旨在确定其相关微生物的群落多样性，并了解它们在木材消化过程中的具体作用。这可以部分通过基因组测序来实现，因为每个微生物的代谢能力可以从其基因组序列中预测。这些信息对科学和社会至关重要，因为它可能有助于探索生物白蚁控制以及生物燃料和生物材料生产的替代方法。除了为学生提供研究训练外，本项目还为K-12学生开发了一个互动外展模块，以帮助激发对科学，技术和工程研究的欣赏。台湾乳白蚁后肠社区包括大型，复杂的真核微生物称为hypermastigotes。它们的基因组尚未被探索，但预计会非常大，需要进行深度测序。后肠群落还包括细菌、古细菌和病毒，丰度变化很大。为了对来自这些生命"域"中的每一个的微生物进行充分测序，将在测序之前进行富集步骤，即分离超鞭毛体核、分离病毒颗粒和滚环扩增较低丰度的细菌基因组。组装的微生物基因组将通过16S或18S核糖体RNA基因来识别，从而可以将碳水化合物活性酶基因分配给微生物物种。固氮能力也将通过nifH基因的定量实时PCR来推断。对于最丰富的细菌，其共生状态（外共生体、内共生体或自由游动）将通过荧光原位杂交确定。通过识别和推断后肠生物反应器中每种微生物的代谢能力，该项目将为更深入地了解高效木材消化奠定基础。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Genome Sequences of Microviruses Associated with Coptotermes formosanus

台湾乳白蚁相关微病毒基因组序列

• DOI: 10.1128/mra.00185-19
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Microbiology Resource Announcements
• 影响因子: 0.8
• 作者: Schmidlin, Kara;Kraberger, Simona;Fontenele, Rafaela S.;De Martini, Francesca;Chouvenc, Thomas;Gile, Gillian H.;Varsani, Arvind;Maresca, Julia A.
• 通讯作者: Maresca, Julia A.