Mushrooms and termites - Symbiotic relationship

Mushrooms migrate to Madagascar by termite. Mushrooms are considered as a food source for converting cellulose.

Termites from which they live in colonies on Madagascar and live symbiosis with fungi. This information is stated in the article published by a former student Tania Nobre of the gene lab at Wageningen Universit. The article with co-author Duur Aanen working at the laboratory was published in the week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

  'The termites on the island of Madagascar also brought here seed potatoes like the farmers who moved to new settlements,' Nobre remarked.

Worker termite.(Photo: Wikimedia)

In female termites, there are fungal spores of Termitomyces in their gut. Thus fungi and termites migrate together from the main land to this island in southern Africa. This longitudinal transmission has a huge evolutionary advantage during long distance travel.'We have determined the date of the trip to match the termites and mushrooms to the island when there are no termites 13 years ago,' according to the Portuguese termite researcher.

To explore the evolutionary history of termites and fungi, Wageningen researchers reconstructed the genealogical structure of today's fungal and termite species. Termites were collected from Africa and Madagascar between 2000 and 2006. In the laboratory in Wageningen, DNA was isolated from more than 150 different termite colonies and fungal species symbiotic with them.

Termites live in tropical and subtropical regions. In each group there is one female and one male lead. There are countless worker termites and guards responsible for building nests and providing food. For some termite species, mushrooms are an important source of food. They can help insects to break down easily digestible plant materials into small pieces.

Most termite species collect mushrooms from their surroundings when a new colony is formed. The Wageningen study shows that all termites in Madagascar are derived from the migration of mushrooms and termites from Africa to the island, thanks to the wind, thanks to floating branches or thanks to birds, according to Nobre speculation.