疣微菌在低等木食性白蚁肠道内的生理作用与功能研究

疣微菌门细菌广泛存在于土壤和湖泊水体等多种环境，有些种类与真核生物共生。由于所获得的纯培养株很少，迄今为止人们对这类细菌的认识很有限。疣微菌在木食性白蚁肠道内普遍存在，但有关其生理作用与功能的研究鲜见报道。本项目以从黑胸散白蚁得到的疣微菌分离株TSB47为对象，在深入解析其全基因组信息的基础上，针对性地研究其耐氧性、纤维素降解活性、固氮活性、生理生化特性和代谢机理；应用荧光定量PCR和荧光原位杂交等技术分析疣微菌在黑胸散白蚁和台湾乳白蚁等两种低等木食性白蚁共生细菌菌群中的相对丰度和在肠道微生态环境中的分布特点，结合对不同条件下生长的疣微菌转录组的比较研究及两种白蚁中疣微菌的多样性分析，探讨疣微菌在低等木食性白蚁肠道中的生理作用和代谢机理。通过本项目的研究不仅能解析疣微菌与木食性白蚁的共生关系与共生机制，也能丰富我们对自然界疣微菌门细菌生态功能的认识，具有重要的科学意义。

Bacteria in the phylum Verrucomicrobia are ubiquitous in various environments such as soil and lake waters. Some of them are symbionts of eukaryotes. However, very few knowledge about their ecological functions has been reported due to the difficulties of cultivation. Verrucomicrobia are found in the intestinal tracts of many wood-feeding termites, whereas our understanding to their physiological functions is very scarce. In this project, we will take the Verrucomicrobia strain TSB47 that we isolated from Reticulitermes chinensis as a model organism to investigate its oxygen tolerance, the ability of cellulose degradation and nitrogen fixation, the biochemical and physiological characteristics and metabolic mechanisms based on the analysis of the whole genome of this strain. We will analyze the relative abundance of Verrucomicrobia in the guts of two wood-feeding lower termites, R. chinensis and Coptotermes formosanus using quantitative real time PCR and localize verrucomicrobia in the intestinal tracts of the guts of the two termites with fluorescence in situ hybridization. Combined with the comparative studies of transcriptomes of verrucomicrobia growing in different conditions and the diversity analysis of Verrucomicrobia of these two termites, we will try to investigate the physiological functions and metabolic pathways of Verrucomicrobia in the intestinal tracts of wood-feeding lower termites. The results of the study will not only illustrate the symbiotic relationship and mechanisms between Verrucomicrobia and wood-feeding termites, but also enrich our understanding of ecological impacts of Verrucomicrobia in nature, which makes great significance in science.