| hydrogen production by termite gut protists: characterization of iron hydrogenases of parabasalian symbionts of the termite coptotermes formosanus. | cellulolytic flagellated protists in the guts of termites produce molecular hydrogen (h(2)) that is emitted by the termites; however, little is known about the physiology and biochemistry of h(2) production from cellulose in the gut symbiotic protists due to their formidable unculturability. in order to understand the molecular basis for h(2) production, we here identified two genes encoding proteins homologous to iron-only hydrogenases (fe hydrogenases) in pseudotrichonympha grassii, a large ce ... | 2007 | 17766465 |
| endosymbiotic bacteroidales bacteria of the flagellated protist pseudotrichonympha grassii in the gut of the termite coptotermes formosanus. | a unique lineage of bacteria belonging to the order bacteroidales was identified as an intracellular endosymbiont of the protist pseudotrichonympha grassii (parabasalia, hypermastigea) in the gut of the termite coptotermes formosanus. we identified the 16s rrna, gyrb, elongation factor tu, and groel gene sequences in the endosymbiont and detected a very low level of sequence divergence (<0.9% of the nucleotides) in the endosymbiont population within and among protist cells. the bacteroidales end ... | 2005 | 16332877 |
| testing protozoacidal activity of ligand-lytic peptides against termite gut protozoa in vitro (protozoa culture) and in vivo (microinjection into termite hindgut). | we are developing a novel approach to subterranean termite control that would lead to reduced reliance on the use of chemical pesticides. subterranean termites are dependent on protozoa in the hindguts of workers to efficiently digest wood. lytic peptides have been shown to kill a variety of protozoan parasites (mutwiri et al. 2000) and also protozoa in the gut of the formosan subterranean termite, coptotermes formosanus (husseneder and collier 2009). lytic peptides are part of the nonspecific i ... | 2010 | 21248688 |
| new endo-beta-1,4-glucanases from the parabasalian symbionts, pseudotrichonympha grassii and holomastigotoides mirabile of coptotermes termites. | abstract. an endo-beta-1,4-glucanase (eg) was purified from the hindgut of an australian mound-building termite, coptotermes lacteus. the hindgut extract had a peak separate from those for extracts obtained from the salivary glands and the midgut based on sephacryl s-200 gel chromatography, and also demonstrated an origin different from the endogenous egs of the termite itself. the recovery was further purified by sds-page, and its n-terminal amino acid sequence analyzed. this showed high homolo ... | 2002 | 12530528 |
| cellulase genes from the parabasalian symbiont pseudotrichonympha grassii in the hindgut of the wood-feeding termite coptotermes formosanus. | cellulase genes of pseudotrichonympha grassii (hypermastigida: eucomonymphidae), the symbiotic flagellate in the hindgut of the wood-feeding termite coptotermes formosanus, were isolated and characterized. the nucleotide sequences of the major cellulase component in the hindgut of c. formosanus were determined based on its n-terminal amino acid sequence. the five isolated nucleotide sequences (pgcbh-homos) had an open reading frame of 1350 bp showing similarity to catalytic domains of glycoside ... | 2002 | 12440775 |
| genome of an endosymbiont coupling n2 fixation to cellulolysis within protist cells in termite gut. | termites harbor diverse symbiotic gut microorganisms, the majority of which are as yet uncultivable and their interrelationships unclear. here, we present the complete genome sequence of the uncultured bacteroidales endosymbiont of the cellulolytic protist pseudotrichonympha grassii, which accounts for 70% of the bacterial cells in the gut of the termite coptotermes formosanus. functional annotation of the chromosome (1,114,206 base pairs) unveiled its ability to fix dinitrogen and recycle putat ... | 2008 | 19008447 |
| rna interference unveils the importance of pseudotrichonympha grassii cellobiohydrolase, a protozoan exoglucanase, in termite cellulose degradation. | based on prior work, a cellulase from glycosyl hydrolase family 7 (ghf7) was identified and found to be expressed at a high level in coptotermes formosanus. to determine the function of ghf7 family members in vivo, we used rna interference (rnai) to functionally analyse the exoglucanase gene pseudotrichonympha grassii cellobiohydrolase gene (pgcbh), which was highly expressed in pseudotrichonympha grassii, a flagellate found in the hindgut of c. formosanus. in this study, the expression level of ... | 2017 | 27991709 |
| phylogenetic identification of hypermastigotes, pseudotrichonympha, spirotrichonympha, holomastigotoides, and parabasalian symbionts in the hindgut of termites. | the phylogenetic diversity of parabasalian flagellates was examined based on the sequences of small subunit ribosomal rna genes amplified directly from the mixed population of flagellates in the hindgut of lower termites. in total, 33 representative sequences of parabasalids were recovered from eight termite species. fluorescent-labeled oligonucleotide probes specific for certain sequences were designed and used for the in situ identification of parabasalian species by whole-cell hybridization. ... | 2009 | 10847341 |