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Fungus-growing Termites
The Macrotermitinae, the fungus-growing termites, constitute a subfamily of the family Termitidae that is only found within the Old World tropics. This subfamily consists of 14 genera and about 350 species and are distinguished by the fact that they cultivate fungi inside their nests to feed the members of the colony. Despite the popular reputation of termites for breaking down and digesting wood, most termite species do not possess the capability to digest the cellulose in wood. Macrotermitinae instead use their mounds to cultivate fungus in a symbiotic relationship, similar to leaf-cutter ants (fungus-cultivating ants). Worker termites find plant debris and macerate it, chewing and moistening the material. They excrete the resulting fecal pellets inside the mound. Other worker termites use this matter to construct fungal combs. The mycelium then spreads through the comb and digests the plant material into a form that makes for nutritious food for the colony. The moun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macrotermes Natalensis
''Macrotermes natalensis'' is a fungus-growing termite species that belongs to the genus ''Macrotermes.'' This species is associated with the ''Termitomyces'' fungal genus. ''M. natalensis'' has domesticated ''Termitomyces'' to produce food for the colony. Both termite species- fungal genus- are obligate and mutually beneficial where termite relies on the fungus to break down for plant materiel and nutrient resource. In contrast, the fungal species obtain plant material and optimal conditions for growth. This is relationship also inhibits competitors and antagonistic fungi to termites mounds. Habitat: This fungal-termite species reported in South Africa. Genome data size: ''M. natalensis'' has become a well-studied fungus-growing termite species, and its genomic sequence reads generate 1.3 gigabytes of data, making it the largest termite genome to date. Colony caste system All the fungus-growing termite colonies similar caste systems. Each caste plays a different roles i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endosymbiont
An ''endosymbiont'' or ''endobiont'' is any organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism most often, though not always, in a mutualistic relationship. (The term endosymbiosis is from the Greek: ἔνδον ''endon'' "within", σύν ''syn'' "together" and βίωσις ''biosis'' "living".) Examples are nitrogen-fixing bacteria (called rhizobia), which live in the root nodules of legumes, single-cell algae inside reef-building corals and bacterial endosymbionts that provide essential nutrients to insects. There are two types of symbiont transmissions. In horizontal transmission, each new generation acquires free living symbionts from the environment. An example is the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in certain plant roots. Vertical transmission takes place when the symbiont is transferred directly from parent to offspring. It is also possible for both to be involved in a mixed-mode transmission, where symbionts are transferred vertically for some generation bef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flagellate
A flagellate is a cell or organism with one or more whip-like appendages called flagella. The word ''flagellate'' also describes a particular construction (or level of organization) characteristic of many prokaryotes and eukaryotes and their means of motion. The term presently does not imply any specific relationship or classification of the organisms that possess flagella. However, the term "flagellate" is included in other terms (such as "dinoflagellate" and "choanoflagellata") which are more formally characterized. Form and behavior Flagella in eukaryotes are supported by microtubules in a characteristic arrangement, with nine fused pairs surrounding two central singlets. These arise from a basal body. In some flagellates, flagella direct food into a cytostome or mouth, where food is ingested. Flagella often support hairs, called mastigonemes, or contain rods. Their ultrastructure plays an important role in classifying eukaryotes. Among protoctists and microscopic anima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia of New Jersey'', Rutgers University Press, . Amber is used in jewelry and has been used as a healing agent in folk medicine. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents. Because it originates as a soft, sticky tree resin, amber sometimes contains animal and plant material as inclusions. Amber occurring in coal seams is also called resinite, and the term ''ambrite'' is applied to that found specifically within New Zealand coal seams. Etymology The English word ''amber'' derives from Arabic (ultimately from Middle Persian ''ambar'') via Middle Latin ''ambar'' and Middle French ''ambre''. The word was adopted in Middle English in the 14th century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macrotermes
''Macrotermes'' is a genus of termites belonging to the subfamily Macrotermitinae and widely distributed throughout Africa and South-East Asia. Well-studied species include ''Macrotermes natalensis'' and '' M. bellicosus.'' Like other genera in the Macrotermitinae, they consume dead plant material indirectly by cultivating a basidiomycete fungus of the genus ''Termitomyces'' on galleries inside – often very large – termite mounds. Frequently at the beginning of the rainy season, enormous swarms of winged flying adults disperse to establish new colonies. Spores are sown on the wood in the nest and treated with a growth hormone. The termites feed on the resulting fungus garden. The fungi produce heat in the nest, which rises towards the closed chimney. The heat is exchanged via the chimney, and its smaller tunnels that lead to the surface. Carbon dioxide and oxygen are exchanged near the surface of the nest, and workers may open or block individual tunnels to regulate temper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sporodochium
A sporodochium (pl. sporodochia) is a small, compact stroma (mass of hyphae) usually formed on host plants parasitised by mitosporic fungi of the form order Tuberculariales ( subdivision Deuteromycota, class Hyphomycetes). This stroma bears the conidiophores on which the asexual spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...s or conidia are formed. References Phytopathology {{botany-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plasmogamy
Plasmogamy is a stage in the sexual reproduction of fungi, in which the protoplasm of two parent cells (usually from the mycelia) fuse without the fusion of nuclei, effectively bringing two haploid nuclei close together in the same cell. This state is followed by karyogamy, where the two nuclei fuse and then undergo meiosis to produce spores. The dikaryotic state that comes after plasmogamy will often persist for many generations before the fungi undergoes karyogamy. In lower fungi however, plasmogamy is usually immediately followed by karyogamy. A comparative genomic study indicated the presence of the machinery for plasmogamy, karyogamy and meiosis in the Amoebozoa Amoebozoa is a major taxonomic group containing about 2,400 described species of amoeboid protists, often possessing blunt, fingerlike, lobose pseudopods and tubular mitochondrial cristae. In traditional and currently no longer supported classi .... References Mycology {{Mycology-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
