シロアリとその細胞内バクテリアの共生

2021 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19F19819
• Research Institution: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): HELLEMANS Simon・Fernand・R 沖縄科学技術大学院大学, 進化ゲノミクスユニット, ポストドクトラルスカラー (20947858)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-11-08 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: Termites / Wolbachia / Symbioses / Ultraconserved Elements / Mitogenomes / Co-Phylogenies

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

Many arthropods are infected by intracellular bacteria, such as Wolbachia, Cardinium and Rickettsia. These bacteria have profound influences on the ecology and evolution of their host and evolved several strategies to increase their own reproductive fitness, sometimes with costs for their hosts. Not all are parasites: some evolved mutualistic relationships with their hosts. Few studies investigated the epidemiological status of Wolbachia at a large scale. In this project, we investigated its infection dynamics in South American termites from whole metagenome sequencing of 2392 termite samples encompassing over 500 species.
We reconstructed the termite phylogeny using mitogenomes and nuclear ultraconserved elements (UCEs). Baits targeting a total of 50616 UCEs were specifically designed for termites during this project. UCE-based phylogenies recovered with high support the deep- and shallow-level relationships recovered as yet only by transcriptome-enabled dataset, thereby demonstrating our bait set to be reliable and informative. Dedicated database paper and companion phylogenies were published.
Read-mapping approach indicated that 1205 samples were infected by Wolbachia, with two supergroups dominating the South American infection landscape. In a few instances, the majority of samples from single species, with contrasted lifestyles, were infected on their whole range. Hence, such intimate symbioses might explain these species’ ecological success (in prep). These results carve the path to functional genomics and unravelling the true nature of termites-Wolbachia symbioses.

Research Progress Status

令和3年度が最終年度であるため、記入しない。

Strategy for Future Research Activity

令和3年度が最終年度であるため、記入しない。

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Termite dispersal is influenced by their diet (2022)
  • Author(s): Hellemans, S., Sobotnik, J., Lepoint, G., Mihaljevic, M., Roisin, Y., Bourguignon, T.
  • Journal Title: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Volume: In Press Pages: -
  • DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0246
• [Journal Article] Phylogeny, biogeography and classification of Teletisoptera (Blattaria: Isoptera) (Isoptera: Teletisoptera) (2022)
  • Author(s): Wang, M., Hellemans, S., Sobotnik, J., Arora, J., Bucek, A., Sillam-Dusses, D., Clitheroe, C., Lu, T., Lo, N., Engel, M.S., Roisin, Y., Evans, T.A., Bourguignon, T.
  • Journal Title: Systematic Entomology Volume: In Press Pages: -
  • DOI: 10.1111/syen.12548
• [Journal Article] Using ultraconserved elements to reconstruct the termite tree of life (2021)
  • Author(s): Hellemans, S., Wang, M., Hasegawa, N., Sobotnik, J., Scheffrahn, R.H., Bourguignon, T.
  • Journal Title: bioRxiv Volume: - Pages: -
  • DOI: 10.1101/2021.12.09.472027
• [Journal Article] Neoisoptera repetitively colonised Madagascar after the Middle Miocene climatic optimum (2021)
  • Author(s): Wang, M., Hellemans, S., Bucek, A., Kanao, T., Arora, J., Clitheroe, C., Rafanomezantsoa, J.-J., Fisher, B.L., Scheffrahn, R., Sillam-Dusses, D., Roisin, Y., Sobotnik, J., Bourguignon, T.
  • Journal Title: bioRxiv Volume: - Pages: -
  • DOI: 10.1101/2021.12.01.470872
• [Journal Article] Historical biogeography of early diverging termite lineages (Isoptera: Teletisoptera) (2021)
  • Author(s): Wang, M., Hellemans, S., Sobotnik, J., Arora, J., Bucek, A., Sillam-Dusses, D., Clitheroe, C., Lu, T., Lo, N., Engel, M.S., Roisin, Y., Evans, T.A., Bourguignon, T.
  • Journal Title: bioRxiv Volume: - Pages: -
  • DOI: 10.1101/2021.12.02.471008