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Fungiculture or Termite Husbandry? The Ruminant Hypothesis

Tânia Nobre1, Duur K Aanen2

  • 1Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, Radix West, Building 107, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. tania.mesquitanobre@wur.nl.

Insects
|October 16, 2015
PubMed
Summary

Termites may be domesticates of Termitomyces fungi, not farmers. The "ruminant hypothesis" suggests termites use fungal enzymes to pre-treat plant matter, benefiting fungi first, then themselves.

Keywords:
MacrotermitinaeTermitomycesfungus-growing termitesgut microbiotahost-symbiont specificitylignocelluloseruminant hypothesis

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