Termite gas emissions select for hydrogenotrophic microbial communities in termite mounds

E Chiri; PA Nauer; R Lappan; T Jirapanjawat; DW Waite; KM Handley; P Hugenholtz; PLM Cook; SK Arndt; C Greening

Journal article

Termite gas emissions select for hydrogenotrophic microbial communities in termite mounds

E Chiri, PA Nauer, R Lappan, T Jirapanjawat, DW Waite, KM Handley, P Hugenholtz, PLM Cook, SK Arndt, C Greening

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | NATL ACAD SCIENCES | Published : 2021

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2102625118

Abstract

Organoheterotrophs are the dominant bacteria in most soils worldwide. While many of these bacteria can subsist on atmospheric hydrogen (H2), levels of this gas are generally insufficient to sustain hydrogenotrophic growth. In contrast, bacteria residing within soil-derived termite mounds are exposed to high fluxes of H2 due to fermentative production within termite guts. Here, we show through community, metagenomic, and biogeochemical profiling that termite emissions select for a community dominated by diverse hydrogenotrophic Actinobacteriota and Dormibacterota. Based on metagenomic short reads and derived genomes, uptake hydrogenase and chemosynthetic RuBisCO genes were significantly enric..

View full abstract

University of Melbourne Researchers

Stefan Arndt Author

Related Projects (2)

Methane uptake of forest soils

This project will provide a detailed understanding of capacity of soils in Australia to sequester the greenhouse gas methane. It will identi..

IMPACTS OF DEFORESTATION AND AFFORESTATION ON GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, AND CARBON AND WATER RESOURCES IN THE DALY RIVER CATCHMENT, NORTH AUSTRALIA

Over the last decade, north Australia have been viewed as a potentially exploitable resource, given issues of salinisation, soil acidificati..

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Swiss National Science Foundation Early PostdocMobility Fellowships (P2EZP3_178421 awarded to E.C.; P2EZP3_155596 awarded to P.A.N.), an ARC DECRA Fellowship (DE170100310 awarded to C.G.), an NHMRC EL2 Fellowship (APP1178715; salary for C.G.), Australian Research Council grants (DP120101735 and LP100100073 awarded to S. K.A.; DP180101762 and DP210101595 awarded to C.G. and P.L.M.C.), a Genomic Aotearoa grant (project 1806; awarded to K.M.H. and funding D.W.W.), the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) OzFlux, and the TERN Australian SuperSite Network. We thank Lindsay Hutley, Matthew Northwood, and Clement Duvert for technical and logistical assistance during fieldwork; Sean Bay for initial support on metagenomics analysis; and James Bradley for assistance with computation and interpretation of the cell-specific powers.