Publications by authors named "G TOKUDA"
Termites digest wood using Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes (CAZymes) produced by gut bacteria with whom they have cospeciated at geological timescales. Whether CAZymes were encoded in the genomes of their ancestor's gut bacteria and transmitted to modern termites or acquired more recently from bacteria not associated with termites is unclear. We used gut metagenomes from 195 termites and one Cryptocercus, the sister group of termites, to investigate the evolution of termite gut bacterial CAZymes.
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- The study explores the differences in gut microbiota and fiber digestion between lower termites (LT), which have cellulolytic flagellates, and higher termites (HT), which do not.
- It identifies specific bacterial lineages responsible for fiber breakdown, revealing that Bacteroidota and Spirochaetota dominate the lignocellulolytic activity in LT, while Fibrobacterota and Spirochaetota take over in HT.
- The findings highlight the importance of oxygen in the breakdown of cellulose and lignin in termite guts, suggesting a more complex symbiotic relationship than previously understood.
Article Synopsis
- - The classification of termites, particularly the diverse Neoisoptera group, needs significant updates due to many incorrectly grouped taxa; researchers propose a new classification based on genomic analyses.
- - The study identifies seven monophyletic family lineages within Neoisoptera and 18 subfamily lineages in the species-rich Termitidae, including several new subfamilies and the revival of some older ones.
- - The new classification method is built on clear monophyletic lineages, which enhances its stability and adaptability for future studies, allowing it to incorporate yet-to-be-discovered species easily.
Cockroaches of the subfamily Panesthiinae (family Blaberidae) are among the few major groups of insects feeding on decayed wood. Despite having independently evolved the ability to thrive on this recalcitrant and nitrogen-limited resource, they are among the least studied of all wood-feeding insect groups. In the pursuit of unraveling their unique digestive strategies, we explored cellulase and xylanase activity in the crop, midgut, and hindgut lumens of and .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany insects harbor bacterial endosymbionts that supply essential nutrients and enable their hosts to thrive on a nutritionally unbalanced diet. Comparisons of the genomes of endosymbionts and their insect hosts have revealed multiple cases of mutually-dependent metabolic pathways that require enzymes encoded in 2 genomes. Complementation of metabolic reactions at the pathway level has been described for hosts feeding on unbalanced diets, such as plant sap.
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