TY - JOUR
T1 - Role of the mutualistic fungus in lignin degradation in the fungus-growing termite Macrotermes gilvus (Isoptera; Macrotermitinae)
AU - Hyodo, F.
AU - Inoue, T.
AU - Azuma, J. I.
AU - Tayasu, I.
AU - Abe, T.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Dr. N. Kirtibutr, Dr. Y. Takematsu and Mr. C. Klangkaew for their various assistance in this study and Dr. M. Higashi and Dr. A. Ushimaru for their helpful comments. We are also grateful to National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) for the permission of this research at Sakaerat Environmental Research Station, and the staffs of Royal Forest Department (RFD) for their kind cooperation. The study was carried out within the framework of an integrated study on biodiversity conservation under global change and bio-inventory management system supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Creative Basic Research of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.
PY - 2000/5/1
Y1 - 2000/5/1
N2 - In order to investigate the role of the mutualistic fungus, Termitomyces sp., in the fungus-growing termite, Macrotermes gilvus, we applied CP/MAS 13C NMR and selected proximate analyses to fungus comb of different ages and degrees of maturation. We found evidence that lignin degradation took place progressively in the fungus comb. In vitro digestibility of cellulose in old fungus comb, on which the termites feed, was approximately 3-fold higher than that in the fresh part. These results confirm the 'lignin degradation hypothesis' that the role of the mutualistic fungi is to degrade lignin and enhance the digestibility of cellulose for the termites, suggesting the ability of the termite-fungus association to make extremely efficient use of plant material. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.
AB - In order to investigate the role of the mutualistic fungus, Termitomyces sp., in the fungus-growing termite, Macrotermes gilvus, we applied CP/MAS 13C NMR and selected proximate analyses to fungus comb of different ages and degrees of maturation. We found evidence that lignin degradation took place progressively in the fungus comb. In vitro digestibility of cellulose in old fungus comb, on which the termites feed, was approximately 3-fold higher than that in the fresh part. These results confirm the 'lignin degradation hypothesis' that the role of the mutualistic fungi is to degrade lignin and enhance the digestibility of cellulose for the termites, suggesting the ability of the termite-fungus association to make extremely efficient use of plant material. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.
KW - Cellulose digestibility
KW - Fungus-growing termite
KW - Lignin degradation
KW - Macrotermes gilvus
KW - Termitomyces sp
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U2 - 10.1016/S0038-0717(99)00192-3
DO - 10.1016/S0038-0717(99)00192-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0034116251
SN - 0038-0717
VL - 32
SP - 653
EP - 658
JO - Soil Biology and Biochemistry
JF - Soil Biology and Biochemistry
IS - 5
ER -