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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2005, p. 7696-7704, Vol. 71, No. 12
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.12.7696-7704.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Symbiotic Fungi Produce Laccases Potentially Involved in Phenol Degradation in Fungus Combs of Fungus-Growing Termites in Thailand{dagger}

Yaovapa Taprab,1,2,{ddagger} Toru Johjima,3,4,{ddagger} Yoshimasa Maeda,1 Shigeharu Moriya,1,3 Savitr Trakulnaleamsai,2 Napavarn Noparatnaraporn,2 Moriya Ohkuma,1,4* and Toshiaki Kudo1,3,5

Environmental Molecular Biology Laboratory, RIKEN, Saitama, Japan,1 Department of Microbiology, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand,2 International Cooperative Research Project, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST-ICORP), Saitama, Japan,3 JST-PRESTO, Saitama, Japan,4 Division of Environmental Molecular Biology, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan5

Received 23 May 2005/ Accepted 26 July 2005

Fungus-growing termites efficiently decompose plant litter through their symbiotic relationship with basidiomycete fungi of the genus Termitomyces. Here, we investigated phenol-oxidizing enzymes in symbiotic fungi and fungus combs (a substrate used to cultivate symbiotic fungi) from termites belonging to the genera Macrotermes, Odontotermes, and Microtermes in Thailand, because these enzymes are potentially involved in the degradation of phenolic compounds during fungus comb aging. Laccase activity was detected in all the fungus combs examined as well as in the culture supernatants of isolated symbiotic fungi. Conversely, no peroxidase activity was detected in any of the fungus combs or the symbiotic fungal cultures. The laccase cDNA fragments were amplified directly from RNA extracted from fungus combs of five termite species and a fungal isolate using degenerate primers targeting conserved copper binding domains of basidiomycete laccases, resulting in a total of 13 putative laccase cDNA sequences being identified. The full-length sequences of the laccase cDNA and the corresponding gene, lcc1-2, were identified from the fungus comb of Macrotermes gilvus and a Termitomyces strain isolated from the same fungus comb, respectively. Partial purification of laccase from the fungus comb showed that the lcc1-2 gene product was a dominant laccase in the fungus comb. These findings indicate that the symbiotic fungus secretes laccase to the fungus comb. In addition to laccase, we report novel genes that showed a significant similarity with fungal laccases, but the gene product lacked laccase activity. Interestingly, these genes were highly expressed in symbiotic fungi of all the termite hosts examined.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Environmental Molecular Biology Laboratory, RIKEN, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. Phone: 81-48-467-9648. Fax: 81-48-462-4672. E-mail: mohkuma{at}riken.jp.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

{ddagger} Y.T. and T.J. contributed equally to this work.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2005, p. 7696-7704, Vol. 71, No. 12
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.12.7696-7704.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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