2019 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
| Project/Area Number |
19F19819
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| Research Institution | Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University |
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Principal Investigator |
ブギーニョン トマ 沖縄科学技術大学院大学, 進化ゲノミクスユニット, 准教授 (40817558)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
HELLEMANS SIMON 沖縄科学技術大学院大学, 進化ゲノミクスユニット, 外国人特別研究員
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-11-08 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | termites / wolbachia / cardinium / symbiosis |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The current project aims at broadening our knowledge on the impacts of some intracellular bacteria, such as Cardinium, Rickettsia and Wolbachia, on the ecology and evolution of their termite hosts.
During the FY2019, Simon Hellemans started analyzing the data for both objectives. Additionally, Simon finalized two past collaborations. The first one focused on the effect of habitat loss on the genetic diversity of the neotropical termite Embiratermes neotenicus in collaboration with researchers from the UFPB and UFRPE in Brazil, and was published in Insect Conservation and Diversity (doi: 10.1111/icad.12414). The second one consisted in the revision and phylogeny of the emblematic African termite genus Cubitermes with researchers from ULB, Belgium, which is now pending decision after revisions in Systematic Entomology. The JSPS is acknowledged in both publications.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The objective (i) aims at shedding light on the epidemiological status of these symbiotic bacteria in termites at the scale of the South American continent, in a cophylogenetic analysis encompassing over 500 species with replicates for each species. We are on the process of reconstructing the neotropical termite phylogenetic tree as estimated from whole mitochondrial genomes assembled from Illumina shotgun sequencing. From these same data, we were able to determine the proportion of samples infected by Wolbachia (32%). We are now aiming at extracting a consistent set of genes across samples in order to perform the cophylogenetic approach.
The objective (ii) aims at uncovering the true nature of their symbioses (i.e. parasitic or mutualistic) using comparative genomics. We are now investigating further the symbiosis between Wolbachia and the neotropical termite Cavitermes tuberosus, for which we were able to reconstruct both genomes from nanopore, mate pair and Illumina sequencing. Preliminary analyses revealed the presence of genes involved in the degradation of aromatic compounds (e.g. lignin) in the genome of Wolbachia, highlighting a mutualistic symbiosis.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
We are now awaiting more Illumina sequencing data for the completion of objective (i). Concerning objective (ii), we will now start analyzing transcriptomic data from both Cavitermes and Wolbachia, in order to reveal exactly which gene pathways are complemented in order to further investigate preliminary conclusions.
Additionally, Simon Hellemans started working on (a) an international project led by Thomas Bourguignon, aiming at performing evolutionary analyses on 50 termite genomes, encompassing all major phylogenetic lineages. More precisely, Simon Hellemans will focus on the evolution of termite sex chromosomes along the phylogeny. Moreover, Simon Hellemans will be collaborating on (b) a mathematical model for the prediction of investment between sexes by termite societies with another JSPS postdoctoral fellow from OIST. Finally, he will also investigate (c) nutrition shifts following biogeographical dispersal events along the termite phylogeny using full mitochondrial genomes and isotopic data.
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Research Products
(2 results)
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[Presentation] Characterizing the feeding behaviour of a generalist inquiline termite (Poster)2020
Author(s)
Hellemans, S., Marynowska, M., Drouet, T., Lepoint, G., Fournier, D., Calusinska, M., Roisin, Y
Organizer
The 13-th conference of the Pacific-Rim Termite Research Group (PRTRG)
