TY - JOUR
T1 - Biogeography and Independent Diversification in the Protist Symbiont Community of Heterotermes tenuis
AU - De Martini, Francesca
AU - Coots, Nicole L.
AU - Jasso-Selles, Daniel E.
AU - Shevat, Jordyn
AU - Ravenscraft, Alison
AU - Stiblík, Petr
AU - Šobotník, Jan
AU - Sillam-Dussès, David
AU - Scheffrahn, Rudolf H.
AU - Carrijo, Tiago F.
AU - Gile, Gillian H.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Mikaela Garcia, Xyonane Segovia, and Shaurya Aggarwal for technical assistance. Funding. This work was supported by the School of Life Sciences and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University (startup grant to GG). TC received financial support from the São Paulo Research Foundation, Brazil (FAPESP), through grants 13/03767-0 and 13/20247-0 to TC. Samples from Brazil were collected under the SISBIO license no. 40673-9 (Brazilian Environmental Ministry – MMA). JS was supported by the Internal Grant Agency of Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, CZU (project number 20205014).
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the School of Life Sciences and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University (startup grant to GG). TC received financial support from the São Paulo Research Foundation, Brazil (FAPESP), through grants 13/03767-0 and 13/20247-0 to TC. Samples from Brazil were collected under the SISBIO license no. 40673-9 (Brazilian Environmental Ministry – MMA). JS was supported by the Internal Grant Agency of Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, CZU (project number 20205014).
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2021 De Martini, Coots, Jasso-Selles, Shevat, Ravenscraft, Stiblík, Šobotník, Sillam-Dussès, Scheffrahn, Carrijo and Gile.
PY - 2021/3/19
Y1 - 2021/3/19
N2 - The eukaryotic microbiome of “lower” termites is highly stable and host-specific. This is due to the mutually obligate nature of the symbiosis and the direct inheritance of protists by proctodeal trophallaxis. However, vertical transmission is occasionally imperfect, resulting in daughter colonies that lack one or more of the expected protist species. This phenomenon could conceivably lead to regional differences in protist community composition within a host species. Here, we have characterized the protist symbiont community of Heterotermes tenuis (Hagen) (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae) from samples spanning South and Central America. Using light microscopy, single cell isolation, and amplicon sequencing, we report eight species-level protist phylotypes belonging to four genera in the phylum Parabasalia. The diversity and distribution of each phylotype’s 18S rRNA amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) mostly did not correlate with geographical or host genetic distances according to Mantel tests, consistent with the lack of correlation we observed between host genetic and geographical distances. However, the ASV distances of Holomastigotoides Ht3 were significantly correlated with geography while those of Holomastigotoides Ht1 were significantly correlated with host phylogeny. These results suggest mechanisms by which termite-associated protist species may diversify independently of each other and of their hosts, shedding light on the coevolutionary dynamics of this important symbiosis.
AB - The eukaryotic microbiome of “lower” termites is highly stable and host-specific. This is due to the mutually obligate nature of the symbiosis and the direct inheritance of protists by proctodeal trophallaxis. However, vertical transmission is occasionally imperfect, resulting in daughter colonies that lack one or more of the expected protist species. This phenomenon could conceivably lead to regional differences in protist community composition within a host species. Here, we have characterized the protist symbiont community of Heterotermes tenuis (Hagen) (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae) from samples spanning South and Central America. Using light microscopy, single cell isolation, and amplicon sequencing, we report eight species-level protist phylotypes belonging to four genera in the phylum Parabasalia. The diversity and distribution of each phylotype’s 18S rRNA amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) mostly did not correlate with geographical or host genetic distances according to Mantel tests, consistent with the lack of correlation we observed between host genetic and geographical distances. However, the ASV distances of Holomastigotoides Ht3 were significantly correlated with geography while those of Holomastigotoides Ht1 were significantly correlated with host phylogeny. These results suggest mechanisms by which termite-associated protist species may diversify independently of each other and of their hosts, shedding light on the coevolutionary dynamics of this important symbiosis.
KW - Cononympha
KW - Cthulhu
KW - Pseudotrichonympha
KW - Rhinotermitidae
KW - coevolution
KW - microbiome
KW - termite
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103562457&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85103562457&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fevo.2021.640625
DO - 10.3389/fevo.2021.640625
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85103562457
SN - 2296-701X
VL - 9
JO - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
JF - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
M1 - 640625
ER -