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Title: Neotropical termite microbiomes as sources of novel plant cell wall degrading enzymes

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5];  [5];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [3];  [6];  [1];  [5];  [1];  [1]
  1. Consejo Nacional de investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Hurlingham, Buenos Aires (Argentina). Inst. de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular (IABIMO), Inst. Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA)
  2. Univ. de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (Argentina). Inst. de Investigaciones en Biociencias Agrícolas y Ambientales (INBA CONICET)
  3. Univ. Autónoma del Estado Morelos, Cuernavaca, Morelos (Mexico). Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Inst. de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Biological Systems and Engineering Division
  5. Univ. of Pretoria, Pretoria (South Africa)
  6. Univ. Nacional del Nordeste, Corrientes (Argentina)

In this study, we used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to characterise the microbial metabolic potential for lignocellulose transformation in the gut of two colonies of Argentine higher termite species with different feeding habits, Cortaritermes fulviceps and Nasutitermes aquilinus. Our goal was to assess the microbial community compositions and metabolic capacity, and to identify genes involved in lignocellulose degradation. Individuals from both termite species contained the same five dominant bacterial phyla (Spirochaetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Fibrobacteres and Bacteroidetes) although with different relative abundances. However, detected functional capacity varied, with C. fulviceps (a grass-wood-feeder) gut microbiome samples containing more genes related to amino acid metabolism, whereas N. aquilinus (a wood-feeder) gut microbiome samples were enriched in genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism and cellulose degradation. The C. fulviceps gut microbiome was enriched specifically in genes coding for debranching- and oligosaccharide-degrading enzymes. These findings suggest an association between the primary food source and the predicted categories of the enzymes present in the gut microbiomes of each species. To further investigate the termite microbiomes as sources of biotechnologically relevant glycosyl hydrolases, a putative GH10 endo-β-1,4-xylanase, Xyl10E, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Functional analysis of the recombinant metagenome-derived enzyme showed high specificity towards beechwood xylan (288.1 IU/mg), with the optimum activity at 50 °C and a pH-activity range from 5 to 10. These characteristics suggest that Xy110E may be a promising candidate for further development in lignocellulose deconstruction applications.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1615315
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Vol. 10, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 15 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (11)

Novel multidomain, multifunctional glycoside hydrolases from highly lignocellulolytic Caldicellulosiruptor species journal August 2018
Parsing in vivo and in vitro contributions to microcrystalline cellulose hydrolysis by multidomain glycoside hydrolases in the Caldicellulosiruptor bescii secretome journal July 2018
Genomic and physiological analyses reveal that extremely thermophilic Caldicellulosiruptor changbaiensis deploys uncommon cellulose attachment mechanisms journal August 2019
Insights into the roles of non-catalytic residues in the active site of a GH10 xylanase with activity on cellulose journal October 2017
Functional Analysis of the Glucan Degradation Locus in Caldicellulosiruptor bescii Reveals Essential Roles of Component Glycoside Hydrolases in Plant Biomass Deconstruction journal October 2017
Discovery of a Thermostable GH10 Xylanase with Broad Substrate Specificity from the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge Vent System journal March 2019
Production and Partial Characterization of an Alkaline Xylanase from a Novel Fungus Cladosporium oxysporum journal January 2016
High activity CAZyme cassette for improving biomass degradation in thermophiles journal February 2018
A novel thermostable GH10 xylanase with activities on a wide variety of cellulosic substrates from a xylanolytic Bacillus strain exhibiting significant synergy with commercial Celluclast 1.5 L in pretreated corn stover hydrolysis journal March 2019
The GH10 and GH48 dual-functional catalytic domains from a multimodular glycoside hydrolase synergize in hydrolyzing both cellulose and xylan journal December 2019
Improvement in catalytic activity and thermostability of a GH10 xylanase and its synergistic degradation of biomass with cellulase journal December 2019

Figures / Tables (9)