Proteome insights into the symbiotic relationship between a captive colony of Nasutitermes corniger and its hindgut microbiome

Abstract

We analyzed the metaproteome of the bacterial community resident in the hindgut paunch of the wood-feeding 'higher' termite (Nasutitermes) and identified 886 proteins, 197 of which have known enzymatic function. Using these enzymes, we reconstructed complete metabolic pathways revealing carbohydrate transport and metabolism, nitrogen fixation and assimilation, energy production, amino-acid synthesis and significant pyruvate ferredoxin/flavodoxin oxidoreductase protein redundancy. Our results suggest that the activity associated with these enzymes may have more of a role in the symbiotic relationship between the hindgut microbial community and its termite host than activities related to cellulose degradation.

Figure 1

Molecular snapshot of the metabolic pathways within the termite gut microbial community. The enzymatic pathways of multiple enzymes are illustrated. Black arrows represent complete pathways; every enzyme was identified. Gray arrows and gray text represent incomplete pathways. The legend is color coded to the EC numbers. Ala, alanine; Arg, arginine; Asp, aspartate; Cys, cysteine; Gln, glutamine; Glu, glutamate; Ile, isoleucine; Leu, leucine; Met, methionine; Phe, phenylalanine; PPi, pyrophosphate; PPP, pentose phosphate pathway; Ser, serine; THF, tetrahydrofolate; Trp, tryptophan; Tyr, tyrosine; Val, valine.