The Journal of General and Applied Microbiology
Online ISSN : 1349-8037
Print ISSN : 0022-1260
ISSN-L : 0022-1260
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In vitro and in vivo sulfate reduction in the gut contents of the termite Mastotermes darwiniensis and the rose-chafer Pachnoda marginata
Stefan DrögeUta LimperFarahnaz EmtiaziInge SchönigNatalija PavlusOliver DrzyzgaUlrich FischerHelmut König
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2005 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 57-64

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Abstract

Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) from termites have been assigned to the genus Desulfovibrio. Desulfovibrio intestinalis lives in the gut of the Australian termite Mastotermes darwiniensis. For the first time we were able to enrich and identify a sulfate-reducing bacterium from the gut of the rose-chafer Pachnoda marginata, which showed the highest 16S rDNA sequence identity (93%) to Desulfovibrio intestinalis and Desulfovibrio strain STL1. Compared to Mastotermes darwiniensis (1×107 cells of SRB per ml gut contents), sulfate-reducing bacteria occurred in higher numbers in the gut contents of Pachnoda marginata reaching cell titers of up to 2×108 cells per ml gut contents. In vitro sulfate reduction rates were determined with SRB from the gut contents of the termite Mastotermes darwiniensis and the beetle Pachnoda marginata. Due to the higher cell titer, the sulfate reduction rate of Pachnoda marginata was 104 nmol×h−1×ml−1 and therefore, 21 times higher than that of Mastotermes darwiniensis. In addition, we detected in vivo sulfate reduction in Mastotermes darwiniensis, which indicates that sulfate reducers play an active role in the sulfur metabolism in the termite gut.

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© 2005 by The Applied Microbiology, Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Research Foundation
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