The microbiotic environment of the termite gut Odontotermes wallonensis: Morphological and biochemical assessment

The dissected gut from worker termites of Odontotermes wallonensis in a specific medium was incubated, and the microbial colonies were purified for morphological and biochemical studies. There were ten purified isolates, and they were predominantly regular in shape rather than irregular. The color of the isolates was dull yellow, cream, pink and white. Smooth texture was dominant among the isolates. The isolates responded differently to varied biochemical tests. Among the ten purified microbial isolates, all were found to be gram-positive, anaerobic, and not producing hydrogen cyanide except the ninth isolate, which showed positive results on the HCN test. The utilization of nutritional source also differed with isolates. Gut microflora of the termite (O. wallonensis) was also characterized using 16S rRNA gene amplification, yielding DNA fragments of 1300-1500 bp. The sequences aligned with major bacterial phyla i.e Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Planctomycetes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria.