''Macrotermes natalensis'' is a fungus-growing

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattode ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

that belongs to the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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 i ...

.'' This species is associated with the ''

Termitomyces ''Termitomyces'' is a genus of basidiomycete fungi belonging to the family Lyophyllaceae. There are 30-40 species in the genus, all of which are completely dependent on termites to survive. They are the food source for a subfamily of termites, th ...

'' fungal genus. ''M. natalensis'' has domesticated ''Termitomyces'' to produce food for the

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

. 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

gigabyte The gigabyte () is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix ''giga'' means 109 in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one gigabyte is one billion bytes. The unit symbol for the gigabyte is GB. This defini ...

s of

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...

, making it the largest

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

to date.

Colony caste system

All the fungus-growing termite colonies similar caste systems. Each caste plays a different roles in the colony, but it is not yet known how caste selection occurs. The primary reproductive caste or royal pair is made up of a king and a queen. The winged

alate Alate (Latin ''ālātus'', from ''āla'' (“wing”)) is an adjective and noun used in entomology and botany to refer to something that has wings or winglike structures. In entomology In entomology, "alate" usually refers to the winged form o ...

s make up the secondary reproductive caste. Sterile castes do not possess any reproductive capacity and include workers and soldiers, both major and minor.

''Termitomyces'' in a colony

''Termitomyces'' fungi play a major role in termite nutrition. They also influence termite survival and caste development. The fungal garden is managed by the worker caste. In a mature ''M. natalensis'' colony, older workers collect dead plant material along with ''Termitomyces'' 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 from their

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

and pass these on to the younger workers. The young workers only stay in the

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...

. They receive the plant material and ingest it along with the ''Termitomyces'' spores. Later, young workers defecate this blended plant material, along with fungal spores, somewhere in the colony nest. It forms a "comb", where the fungal

mycelium Mycelium (plural mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrate (biology), substrates. A typical single ...

establishes a dense network. The ''Termitomyces'' fungi use the nutrients from the comb and complete their

life cycle Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to: Science and academia *Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from birth to reproduction ending with the production of the offspring *Life-cycle hypothesis, ...

with fruiting bodies or fungal nodules.

References

Termites Insects described in 1898 {{termite-stub