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Science 2 January 1981:
Vol. 211. no. 4477, pp. 58 - 59
DOI: 10.1126/science.211.4477.58
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Articles

Cellulose Metabolism by the Flagellate Trichonympha from a Termite Is Independent of Endosymbiotic Bacteria

MICHAEL A. YAMIN 1

1 Rockefeller University, New York 10021

Continuous axenic cultures were established of Trichonympha sphaerica, a cellulose-digesting symbiotic protozoon in the gut of a termite. The cultured flagellates harbored no endosymbiotic bacteria and metabolized cellulose to acetate, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. Thus, the cellulolytic activity of this flagellate is an inherent property and is not dependent on endosymbiotic bacteria.

Submitted on May 2, 1980
Revised on August 11, 1980


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Complete genome of the uncultured Termite Group 1 bacteria in a single host protist cell.
Y. Hongoh, V. K. Sharma, T. Prakash, S. Noda, T. D. Taylor, T. Kudo, Y. Sakaki, A. Toyoda, M. Hattori, and M. Ohkuma (2008)
PNAS 105, 5555-5560
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Phylogenetic diversity of 'Endomicrobia' and their specific affiliation with termite gut flagellates.
W. Ikeda-Ohtsubo, M. Desai, U. Stingl, and A. Brune (2007)
Microbiology 153, 3458-3465
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Hydrogen Production by Termite Gut Protists: Characterization of Iron Hydrogenases of Parabasalian Symbionts of the Termite Coptotermes formosanus.
J.-I. Inoue, K. Saita, T. Kudo, S. Ui, and M. Ohkuma (2007)
Eukaryot. Cell 6, 1925-1932
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To DGC or not to DGC: oxygen guarding in the termite Zootermopsis nevadensis (Isoptera: Termopsidae).
J. R. B. Lighton and E. A. Ottesen (2005)
J. Exp. Biol. 208, 4671-4678
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"Endomicrobia": Cytoplasmic Symbionts of Termite Gut Protozoa Form a Separate Phylum of Prokaryotes.
U. Stingl, R. Radek, H. Yang, and A. Brune (2005)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 71, 1473-1479
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Termite Gut Symbiotic Archaezoa Are Becoming Living Metabolic Fossils.
L. Li, J. Frohlich, P. Pfeiffer, and H. Konig (2003)
Eukaryot. Cell 2, 1091-1098
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Genesis of Acetate and Methane by Gut Bacteria of Nutritionally Diverse Termites.
A. Brauman, M. D. Kane, M. Labat, and J. A. Breznak (1992)
Science 257, 1384-1387
   Abstract »    PDF »


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