Character of Cellulase Activity in the Guts of Flagellate-Free Termites with Different Feeding Habits

Cellulose digestion in termites (Isoptera) is highly important for ecological reasons and applications in biofuel conversion. The speciose Termitidae family has lost flagellates in the hindgut and developed diverse feeding habits. To address the response of cellulase activity to the differentiation...

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Main Authors:	Li, Zhi-Qiang, Liu, Bing-Rong, Zeng, Wen-Hui, Xiao, Wei-Liang, Li, Qiu-Jian, Zhong, Jun-Hong
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	University of Wisconsin Library 2013
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3738099/

id	pubmed-3738099
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-37380992013-08-13 Character of Cellulase Activity in the Guts of Flagellate-Free Termites with Different Feeding Habits Li, Zhi-Qiang Liu, Bing-Rong Zeng, Wen-Hui Xiao, Wei-Liang Li, Qiu-Jian Zhong, Jun-Hong Article Cellulose digestion in termites (Isoptera) is highly important for ecological reasons and applications in biofuel conversion. The speciose Termitidae family has lost flagellates in the hindgut and developed diverse feeding habits. To address the response of cellulase activity to the differentiation of feeding habits, a comparative study of the activity and distribution of composite cellulases, endo-β-1, 4-glucanase, and β-glucosidase was performed in seven common flagellate-free termites with three feeding habits: the humus-feeding termites Sinocapritermes mushae (Oshima et Maki), Malaysiocapritermes zhangfengensis Zhu, Yang et Huang and Pericapritermes jiangtsekiangensis (Kemner); the fungus-growing termites Macrotermes barneyi Light and Odontotermes formosanus (Shiraki); and the wood-feeding termites Nasutitermes parvonasutus (Shiraki) and Havilanditermes orthonasus (Tsai et Chen). The results showed that in diverse feeding groups, the wood-feeding group had the highest total composite cellulase and endo-β-1, 4-glucanase activities, while the fungus-growing group had the highest β-glucosidase activity. In terms of the distribution of cellulase activity in the alimentary canals, the cellulase activities in wood-feeding termites were concentrated in the midgut, but there was no significant difference between all gut segments in humus-feeding termites. As for the fungus-growing termites, the main site of composite cellulase activity was in the midgut. The endo-β-1, 4-glucanase activity was restricted to the midgut, but the primary site of β-glucosidase activity was in the foregut and the midgut (Mac. barneyi). The functions of the gut segments apparently differentiated between feeding groups. The results suggest that the differentiation of feeding habits in flagellate-free termites was characterized by the distribution of cellulases in the gut rather than by variations in cellulase activity. University of Wisconsin Library 2013-04-21 /pmc/articles/PMC3738099/ /pubmed/23895662 http://dx.doi.org/10.1673/031.013.3701 Text en © 2013 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Li, Zhi-Qiang Liu, Bing-Rong Zeng, Wen-Hui Xiao, Wei-Liang Li, Qiu-Jian Zhong, Jun-Hong
spellingShingle	Li, Zhi-Qiang Liu, Bing-Rong Zeng, Wen-Hui Xiao, Wei-Liang Li, Qiu-Jian Zhong, Jun-Hong Character of Cellulase Activity in the Guts of Flagellate-Free Termites with Different Feeding Habits
author_facet	Li, Zhi-Qiang Liu, Bing-Rong Zeng, Wen-Hui Xiao, Wei-Liang Li, Qiu-Jian Zhong, Jun-Hong
author_sort	Li, Zhi-Qiang
title	Character of Cellulase Activity in the Guts of Flagellate-Free Termites with Different Feeding Habits
title_short	Character of Cellulase Activity in the Guts of Flagellate-Free Termites with Different Feeding Habits
title_full	Character of Cellulase Activity in the Guts of Flagellate-Free Termites with Different Feeding Habits
title_fullStr	Character of Cellulase Activity in the Guts of Flagellate-Free Termites with Different Feeding Habits
title_full_unstemmed	Character of Cellulase Activity in the Guts of Flagellate-Free Termites with Different Feeding Habits
title_sort	character of cellulase activity in the guts of flagellate-free termites with different feeding habits
description	Cellulose digestion in termites (Isoptera) is highly important for ecological reasons and applications in biofuel conversion. The speciose Termitidae family has lost flagellates in the hindgut and developed diverse feeding habits. To address the response of cellulase activity to the differentiation of feeding habits, a comparative study of the activity and distribution of composite cellulases, endo-β-1, 4-glucanase, and β-glucosidase was performed in seven common flagellate-free termites with three feeding habits: the humus-feeding termites Sinocapritermes mushae (Oshima et Maki), Malaysiocapritermes zhangfengensis Zhu, Yang et Huang and Pericapritermes jiangtsekiangensis (Kemner); the fungus-growing termites Macrotermes barneyi Light and Odontotermes formosanus (Shiraki); and the wood-feeding termites Nasutitermes parvonasutus (Shiraki) and Havilanditermes orthonasus (Tsai et Chen). The results showed that in diverse feeding groups, the wood-feeding group had the highest total composite cellulase and endo-β-1, 4-glucanase activities, while the fungus-growing group had the highest β-glucosidase activity. In terms of the distribution of cellulase activity in the alimentary canals, the cellulase activities in wood-feeding termites were concentrated in the midgut, but there was no significant difference between all gut segments in humus-feeding termites. As for the fungus-growing termites, the main site of composite cellulase activity was in the midgut. The endo-β-1, 4-glucanase activity was restricted to the midgut, but the primary site of β-glucosidase activity was in the foregut and the midgut (Mac. barneyi). The functions of the gut segments apparently differentiated between feeding groups. The results suggest that the differentiation of feeding habits in flagellate-free termites was characterized by the distribution of cellulases in the gut rather than by variations in cellulase activity.
publisher	University of Wisconsin Library
publishDate	2013
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3738099/
_version_	1612001758290116608

Character of Cellulase Activity in the Guts of Flagellate-Free Termites with Different Feeding Habits

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