Termite theatre: the termite Reticulitermes flavipes is a major pest of wood products. Its genome was sequenced as part of this study.
Source: BAM
Termites play a key role as decomposers of organic materials, including wood, with damage inflicted by termites posing a major challenge to the global wood product industry. Despite their importance, high-quality genomic data for termites has been largely lacking. To address this, BAM, alongside other international partners, sequenced high-quality genomes from 45 diverse termite species and two cockroaches, increasing the available genomes for termites six-fold. The study revealed that a specific group called the Termitidae, which makes up approximately 80% of all termite species, has larger genomes and more genes than other termites. These included specialized genes thought to be involved in the breakdown of recalcitrant dietary materials. Interestingly, this expansion happened when these termites shifted their diet from just wood to soil. Even the species that eventually returned to eating wood kept these additional genes. Overall, this research provides new insights into how these social insects evolved and why they are so successful at exploiting such a diverse range of materials.
Unravelling the evolution of wood-feeding in termites with 47 high-resolution genome assemblies
Cong Liu, Cédric Aumont, Alina A. Mikhailova, Tracy Audisio, Simon Hellemans, Yi-Ming Weng, Shulin He, Crystal Clitheroe, Zongqing Wang, Ives Haifig, David Sillam-Dussès, Aleš Buček, Gaku Tokuda, Jan Šobotník, Mark C. Harrison, Dino P. McMahon & Thomas Bourguignon
nature communications, 2025