Table 2.
Strains representing uricolytic isolates from termite guts and their closest relatives
| Representative strain | Termite host (abundance)a | Closest relativeb | Sequence identityc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clostridia | |||
| NkU-1 (JCM 10519) | Nk, Of (4/19), Hs (47/52), | Clostridium saccharolyticum (cluster XIVa) (Y18185) | 98.9% |
| Cd6 (JCM 10514)d | Cd (7/31), Nt (39/43) | Clostridium sphenoides (cluster XIVa) (AB075772) | 99.9% |
| Cd13 (JCM 10515) | Cd (1/31) | Clostridium bifermentans (cluster XI) (AB075769) | 100% |
| Hs50 (JCM 10522) | Hs (5/52) | Clostridium sporogenes (cluster I) (X68189) | 99.3% |
| CfU-1 (JCM 10513) | Cf | Clostridium subterminale (cluster I) (AF241844) | 100% |
| Enterobacteriaceae (Gammaproteobacteria) | |||
| RsN-1 (JCM 17987)d | Rs | Enterobacter amnigenus (AB004749) | 99.3% |
| GfU-1 (JCM 17988) | Gf | Enterobacter aerogenes (AB004750) | 98.8% |
| Cd20b (JCM 17989) | Cd (2/31) | Enterobacter asburiae (AB004744) | 98.7% |
| Cd15a (JCM 17990) | Cd (1/31) | Enterobacter cowanii (AJ508303) | 98.0% |
| Cd22 (JCM 17991) | Cd (2/31) | Serratia nematodiphila (EU036987) | 99.9% |
| Of17 (JCM 17992)d | Of (9/19) | Trabulsiella odontotermitis (DQ453129) | 99.5% |
| Of6 (JCM 17993) | Of (4/19) | Citrobacter farmeri (AF025371) | 99.6% |
| Of24 (JCM 17994) | Of (2/19) | Cedecea neteri (AB086230) | 99.7% |
| Low GC Gram positive cocci (Bacilli) | |||
| Cd31 (JCM 10523)d | Gf, Cd (2/31) | Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis (AB100803) | 100% |
| Cd23 (JCM 10521) | Cd (16/31) | Enterococcus caccae (AY943820) | 99.4% |
| Nt1 (JCM 10537) | Nt (3/43) | Staphylococcus epidermidis (D83363) | 99.3% |
Abbreviations of termite hosts are shown in Table 1. Abundance data shown in parentheses for the four termites Hs, Cd, Nt, and Of correspond to the number of allied isolates divided by the number of examined isolates with a slash.
Accession number of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of type strain used for comparison is shown in parentheses. In Clostridium spp., the clostridia cluster defined by Collins et al.(5) is also shown. To our knowledge, there is no report of obvious anaerobic UA degradation in these close relatives except for C. sphenoides (this study).
Almost the entire sequence of the amplified fragment was determined and compared in strains NkU-1 and Cd23, and strains in Enterobacteriaceae, Only a partial sequence (less than 690 bp) was compared in the other strains.
Strain Cd6 showed 99.4% sequence identity to clone HsH-8 from the gut of Hs (30). Strain RsN-1 showed 99.6% sequence identity to clone Rs-M74 from Rs (11). Strain Of17 showed 99.2% sequence identity to clone BOf3-07 from Of (52) and 99.6% identity to clone Nt2-100 from Nt (13). Strain Cd31 showed 100% sequence identity to clone RsaP87 from R. santonensis(60).