0000000000108687
AUTHOR
C Ferraro
ANALISI DELLA COMUNITÀ MICROBICA INTESTINALE DI Reculitermes lucifugus (ROSSI) (ISOPTERA: RHINOTERMITIDAE)
Reticulitermes lucifugus è una specie di termite diffusa in Italia e che causa gravi danni alle strutture legnose di monumenti storici e artistici. L’intestino delle termiti ospita una comunità microbica di batteri e flagellati, responsabile della degradazione del materiale lignocellulosico. Studi preliminari sulla comunità microbica dei simbionti di R. lucifugus, hanno descritto alcune specie di protozoi, ma non ci sono ancora informazioni sui simbionti batterici. Al fine di caratterizzare la comunità microbica intestinale di R. lucifugus è stato utilizzato un approccio molecolare coltura indipendente e colture di arricchimento per l’isolamento dei batteri cellulosolitici. Per l’analisi co…
The culturable bacterial community of frass produced by larvae of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in the Canary island date palm.
Aims: Larvae of the red palm weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) feed inside palm stem tissues, making galleries and producing a wet fermenting frass. We characterized the culturable micro-organisms associated with frass produced by tunnelling larvae inside the Canary island date palms and investigated the role of frass and gut bacteria in plant polymers breakdown. Methods and Results: A culture-dependent method was used to isolate bacteria from frass and noninfested palm tissues. Bacterial isolates were grouped into operational taxonomic units based on polymorphisms in the ITS-PCR profiles, and representative isolates were identified by partial sequenci…
Changes in the bacterial community of Canary island date palm tissues attacked by Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).
The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus is a trunk tissue borer that has recently become the major pest of palms in the Mediterranean Basin. In Sicily the red palm weevil is strongly associated with the Canary island date palm, Phoenix canariensis Hortorum ex Chabaud, an ornamental palm with high economic value. RPW larvae consumes the trunk tender soft tissues, making galleries that present a chewed appearance with a characteristic fermented odour. Several aspects of the RPW’s biology still need to be investigated such as its gut bacterial community, and the agents of fermentation processes that occur in the galleries made by the larvae. The aim of this work was to analyse the…