The bacterial microbiota of<i>Stolotermes ruficeps</i>(<i>Stolotermitidae</i>), a phylogenetically basal termite endemic to New Zealand

Abstract

Stolotermes ruficeps is a widespread, primitive, lower termite occupying dead and decaying wood of many tree species in New Zealand's temperate forests. We identified core bacterial taxa involved in gut processes through combined DNA- and RNA (cDNA)-based pyrosequencing analysis of the 16S nucleotide sequence from five S. ruficeps colonies. Most family and many genus-level taxa were common to S. ruficeps colonies despite being sampled from different tree species. Major taxa identified were Spirochaetaceae, Elusimicrobiaceae and Porphyromonadaceae. Others less well known in termite guts were Synergistaceae, Desulfobacteraceae, Rhodocyclaceae, Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae. Synergistaceae, Lachnospiraceae and Spirochaetaceae were well represented in the RNA data set, indicating a high-protein synthesis potential. Using 130,800 sequences from nine S. ruficeps DNA and RNA data sets, we estimated a high level of bacterial richness (4024 phylotypes at 3% genetic distance). Very few abundant phylotypes were site-specific; almost all (95%) abundant phylotypes, representing 97% of data set sequences, were detected in at least two S. ruficeps colonies. This study of a little-researched phylogenetically basal termite identifies core bacteria taxa. These findings will extend inventories of termite gut microbiota and contribute to the understanding of the specificity of termite gut microbiota.