Published in

MDPI, Insects, 4(10), p. 87, 2019

DOI: 10.3390/insects10040087

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Symbiotic Plant Biomass Decomposition in Fungus-Growing Termites

Journal article published in 2019 by Rafael da Costa ORCID, Haofu Hu, Hongjie Li, Michael Poulsen ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Termites are among the most successful animal groups, accomplishing nutrient acquisition through long-term associations and enzyme provisioning from microbial symbionts. Fungus farming has evolved only once in a single termite sub-family: Macrotermitinae. This sub-family has become a dominant decomposer in the Old World; through enzymatic contributions from insects, fungi, and bacteria, managed in an intricate decomposition pathway, the termites obtain near-complete utilisation of essentially any plant substrate. Here we review recent insights into our understanding of the process of plant biomass decomposition in fungus-growing termites. To this end, we outline research avenues that we believe can help shed light on how evolution has shaped the optimisation of plant-biomass decomposition in this complex multipartite symbiosis.