Symbiosis in the Termite Gut

Abstract

The recent application of culture-independent molecular approaches provides a new way to characterize the microbial populations in the symbiotic community in the termite gut. Now that the symbiotic community within the termite gut has been shown to be highly structured, many aspects of the interactions between the host and the symbionts and among the symbionts should be studied further. Beyond the mere description of phylogenetic diversity it is necessary to characterize the in situ localization of individual populations, and to directly link the identity of individual cells to their functions. New probes for functional marker genes and characterization of their expression in situ will lead to remarkable advances. In order to discuss evolution of symbiosis within the termite gut, the structure and functions of the gut community should be extensively characterized in some model termites. A more diverse range of termite species should be analyzed. Finally, it is noted that the symbiotic relationships between the gut protists and their endobionts or ectobionts are attractive research subjects in terms of the symbiosis-accelerated evolution of eukaryotic cells, since these protists represent early emerging groups of eukaryotes.