Symbiotic and non-symbiotic micro flora of termite gut: a unique nonhuman agricultural system that can recycle photo-synthetically fixed carbon and nutrients
Journal Title: Journal of Pharmacy Research - Year 2011, Vol 4, Issue 4
Abstract
Termites are xylophagous insects which house a range of microorganisms including protozoan, bacteria and fungi inside their gut. These microbes associate to form mutualistic associations that help the termites to degrade the plant-derived biomass. These gut symbionts specially fungi predigest plant substrate and maintain food supply to termites. Besides this, fungi secrete few chemicals from decayed wood, which attract termites for feeding. Interestingly, presence of microflora in the gut makes termites able to degrade wood and wood constituents such as cellulose and hemi-cellulose. In turn, termites help the fungi by transporting and spreading them to new areas. Fungi play an important role in nutrition of termites by being a direct source of food, or by modifying it and do recycling of photo-synthetically fixed carbon with the aid of symbiotic gut micro-flora. These also play important role in termite survival and possess nitrogen fixation genes (nifH) that show potential for nitrogen fixation in natural environment. But, few termite species lack this gene. After being development of appropriate microbial technology, this unique nonhuman agricultural system can be used for the improvement of soil fertility, biological nitrogen fixation and in pest management. From scientific standpoint, if products and biological processes of novel microbial strains will be identified these might have wider applications in agriculture and industry. Certainly, in coming future it would become a part of sustainable agricultural development. The purpose of present article is to signify the importance of gut symbionts in termite life mainly in establishment of colony, decomposition of food material, recycling of nutrients and survival in adverse environmental conditions
Authors and Affiliations
Ravi Kant Upadhyay
Keywords
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