Layers of Symbiosis – Visualizing the Termite Hindgut Microbial Community
Summary
Jared Leadbetter takes us for a nature walk through the diversity of life resident in the termite hindgut – a microenvironment containing 250 different species found nowhere else on Earth. Jared reveals that the symbiosis exhibited by this system is multi-layered and involves not only a relationship between the termite and its gut inhabitants, but also involves a complex web of symbiosis among the gut microbes themselves.
Abstract
Jared Leadbetter takes us for a nature walk through the diversity of life resident in the termite hindgut – a microenvironment containing 250 different species found nowhere else on Earth. Jared reveals that the symbiosis exhibited by this system is multi-layered and involves not only a relationship between the termite and its gut inhabitants, but also involves a complex web of symbiosis among the gut microbes themselves.
Disclosures
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Cite This Article
Leadbetter, J. Layers of Symbiosis – Visualizing the Termite Hindgut Microbial Community. J. Vis. Exp. (4), e197, doi:10.3791/197 (2007).