Termites wood digestion

As termites relentlessly digest cellulose (wood) throughout the world, they produce methane gas, which enters the atmosphere. Although now present in comparatively small amounts, methane is counted as one of the greenhouse gases. 

The protozoan Myxotrichaparadoxa, a complex symbiont that lives in the gut of certain Australian termites, plays in turn host to three symbiotic forms of life, namely small spirochetes, large spirochetes (for propulsion), as well as bacteria that mediate the digestion of wood fiber in the digestive area of the protozoan. 

Termites can eat wood because they contain specific microorganisms that, in turn, contain bacteria that actually digest the wood. These bacteria have enzymes that can break the bonds of cellulose. 

The >3(1 — 4) linkage is particularly stable with respect to hydrolysis. Cellulose cannot be digested by mammals, but some insects (notably termites and wood-eating cockroaches), protozoans and fungi possess celluloses, enzymes that can hydrolyze the /3(1—>4) linkages. Ruminants, such as sheep and cattle, can digest cellulose because of the protozoans that live symbiotically in their digestive system. 

For the same reason it is difficult to prepare vaccines against them. Other flagellates live in a symbiotic relationship within the alimentary canals of termites (Fig. 1-9) and roaches. Termites depend upon bacteria that live within the cells of these symbiotic protozoans to provide the essential enzymes needed to digest the cellulose in wood. 

Bacteria in the digestive tracts of termites and cattle produce an enzyme that allows them to digest the cellulose in wood and... 

We should note that this is a chemical reaction that would occur in a beaker as well as a human stomach. The human stomach does not have 6-glucosidase unlike the termite which can readily digest wood, a cellulose byproduct. 

Cellulose is the main carbohydrate utilized by termites that feed on wood or vegetable matter. The digestion in most species is brought about by flagellates that live in the intestines and secrete cellulase. The species that utilize organic residues do so very completely, and markedly hasten the decomposition processes. 

There is another interesting and important fact about cellulose the digestive enzymes of humans cannot attack its j8(l 4) linkages. Hence, cellulose cannot serve as a food source for humans, as can starch. Cows and termites, however, can use cellulose (of grass and wood) as a food source because symbiotic bacteria in their digestive systems furnish jS-glucosidase enzymes. 

The simplest alkane (that is, with n = 1) is methane CH4, which is a natural product of the anaerobic bacterial decomposition of vegetable matter under water. Because it was first collected in marshes, methane became known as marsh gas. A rather improbable but proven source of methane is termites. When these voracious insects consume wood, the microorganisms that inhabit their digestive system break down cellulose (the major component of wood) into methane, carbon dioxide, and other compounds. An estimated 170 million tons of methane are produced annually by termites It is also produced in some sewage treatment processes. Commercially,... 

C. accounts for more of the earth s biomass than any other compound. The total amount is equivalent to about 50% of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere about 100 billion metric tonnes are produced each year. It is degraded by organisms that possess Cellulases (see) lower plants, wood-destroying fungi and some bacteria. Termites, ruminants and some rodents harbor symbiotic bacteria in their digestive tracts which enable them to utilize cellulose. In animals that cannot digest it (e.g. humans and carnivores), C. is a ballast substance. C. is a very important industrial product, obtained primarily by acid (sulfite... 

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