Role of bioactive xenobiotics towards reproductive potential of Odontotermes longignathus through in silico study: An amalgamation of ecoinformatics and ecotechnological insights of termite mounds from a tropical forest, India

Abstract

The present research study has evaluated the roles of different naturally occurring compounds in termite mounds of Odontotermes longignathus (GenBank Id: MZ542727.1) which facilitate to promote higher population growth of termites and subsequent biodegradation. The study has also monitored the change in physicochemical parameters along with the trend of biodegradation of complex organic carbon-based compounds like lignin, polysaccharides etc. and nitrogenous compounds from two different types of termite mounds such as developing (T1) and developed (T2) mounds. The GC MS profiling of mound samples have revealed the occurrence of different humic acids like organic materials in both T1 and T2 mound samples. Both the termite mounds have demonstrated a high population density as T1 (23.67 ± 1.56) individuals and T2 (43.51 ± 2.36) individuals per 0.1 kg of mound materials. Such observations have prompted to undertake molecular docking experiments which revealed that different molecules interact at low binding affinity with hormone receptors involved in moulting, spermatogenesis and oogenesis of termite like Adamantane carboxylate (EcR: −7.6 Kcal/mol; BTB-KLHL10: −6.2 Kcal/mol; USP-LBD: −7.3 Kcal/mol; VgR: −6.8 Kcal/mol), Benzene dicarboxylic acid (EcR: −5.5 Kcal/mol; BTB-KLHL10: −5.1 Kcal/mol; USP-LBD: −5.4 Kcal/mol; VgR: −5.6 Kcal/mol), Hexadecanol (EcR: −6.0 Kcal/mol; BTB-KLHL10: −4.4 Kcal/mol; USP-LBD: −6.9 Kcal/mol; VgR: −6.0 Kcal/mol), oxirane (EcR: −5.3 Kcal/mol; BTB-KLHL10: −4.9 Kcal/mol; USP-LBD: −5.2 Kcal/mol; VgR: −5.3 Kcal/mol) and tocopherol (EcR: −8.0 Kcal/mol; BTB-KLHL10: −5.4 Kcal/mol; USP-LBD: −7.6 Kcal/mol; VgR: −7.0 Kcal/mol). Such spontaneous ligand binding phenomenon coupled with high population density of termites have established the significance of different bioactive xenobiotics in achieving high reproductive potential of termites which in turn facilitate the process of biodegradation and enhance the nutrient enrichment in the soils of tropical deciduous forest.