Wenxiang Ping

Bacillus subtilis Subspecies virginiana, a New Subspecies of Antitermitic Compound-Producing Endophytic Bacteria Isolated from Juniperus virginiana

ABSTRACT Termites are worldwide pests causing considerable damage to agriculture, forestry and buildings. Although physical and chemical methods have been tried to eliminate termite populations, they have the limitations such as low effectiveness, high-toxicity residue, environmentally harmful and high cost. Therefore, it has attracted much attention to develop highly effective, low-toxic, long residual period, environmentally friendly and low-cost termiticidals. Here, we report the characterization and antitermitic activities of a new antitermitic compound-producing endophytic bacterium HUB-I-47 isolated from eastern red-cedar, Juniperus virginiana L. The morphological, physiochemical characteristics of strain HUB-I-47 and its 16S rDNA sequences, and the antitermitic compound were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were studied. We found that the morphology of HUB-I-47 was very similar to that of Bacillus subtilis but presented some differences in shape and cell size. Growth evaluation showed that the lowest, highest, and optimum growth temperatures of HUB-I-47 were 12, 47, and 31°C, respectively, which were different from those of reference strains. The 16S rDNA sequence analysis revealed a high similarity of 99% to those of B. subtilis. Based on these analyses, we named strain HUB-I-47 as B. subtilis subsp. virginiana D. P. Zhou, K. Zhao, J. Liu et W. X. Ping, subsp. nov. This is the first report on the analysis of antitermitic compounds from endophytic bacteria. Our study identified a new resource of antitermitic compounds through endophytic bacteria fermentation.

Recent Advances in Diversity of Symbiotic Microbes in Termite Gut and Termite Control Methods

Termites are seriously destructive pests around the world.Based on our study,research advances in isolation of microorganisms in termite gut and methods of termite control were summarized in this paper.There were protozoa,bacteria,fungi and spirochetes isolated from termite gut.The microorganisms play very important roles in the digestion of lignocelluloses in termite gut.Currently approaches used for controlling termites are physical,chemical and biological methods.The biological control method is a safe,effective,environment-friendly and cost-effective strategy.In this paper,the method producing the biological termicides was presented for the first time by fermentation of endophytes isolated from Juniperus virginiana and Chamaecyparis lawsoniana.The advantages of the biological termicides suggested that the strategy of using endophytes to produce biological termicides has great potential in termite control in the future.