{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T12:59:58Z","timestamp":1790859598650,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":91,"publisher":"Pensoft Publishers","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790812800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["imafungus"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Fungus-growing termites harbour diverse microbial communities in their combs and guts. However, culture-based surveys, cross-colony and cross-regional comparisons and assessments of their antimicrobial activities against entomopathogens and fungal weeds remain limited. Through culture-dependent isolation, we surveyed the bacterial and fungal diversity associated with the combs and guts of termites in the genera\n                    <jats:italic>Macrotermes<\/jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic>Odontotermes<\/jats:italic>\n                    , recovering 600 non-\n                    <jats:italic>Termitomyces<\/jats:italic>\n                    fungal isolates representing 79 genera, as well as 59 bacterial isolates. Pathogenicity tests on\n                    <jats:italic>Macrotermes gilvus<\/jats:italic>\n                    revealed that a\n                    <jats:italic>Metarhizium<\/jats:italic>\n                    isolate obtained from a healthy comb was highly virulent to termites. Combs incubated in the boxes yielded 112 isolates of the weed\n                    <jats:italic>Xylaria<\/jats:italic>\n                    and multi-locus phylogenetic analyses revealed high species diversity. Together, these findings revealed two major microbial threats within healthy termite fungus combs. First, highly virulent entomopathogens that directly threaten termite survival. Second, a diverse assemblage of comb-specialised xylariaceous fungi that persist latently and compete for comb nutrients. Behavioural assays revealed that termites exhibited sharply differential hygienic responses to fungi co-occurring in soil plates, aggressively burying\n                    <jats:italic>Metarhizium<\/jats:italic>\n                    regardless of comb presence, but responded weakly to co-evolved\n                    <jats:italic>Xylaria<\/jats:italic>\n                    . Newly-hatched termites also displayed innate avoidance of food contaminated with\n                    <jats:italic>Metarhizium<\/jats:italic>\n                    conidia. Several comb- and gut-associated bacterial isolates, as well as termite-generated soil boluses, inhibited both\n                    <jats:italic>Metarhizium<\/jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic>Xylaria in vitro<\/jats:italic>\n                    . This study underscores the utility of culture-based approaches for elucidating microbial diversity and ecology in termite nests and highlights the roles of host behaviour and comb- and gut-associated bacteria in suppressing both fungal weed invasions and entomopathogen infections.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3897\/imafungus.17.211888","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T12:34:31Z","timestamp":1790858071000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Termite sanitary behaviour and their associated bacteria protect against latent Xylaria and entomopathogenic Metarhizium"],"prefix":"10.3897","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Er-Fu","family":"Yang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Yunnan Key Laboratory for Fungal Diversity and Green Development & Yunnan International Joint Laboratory of Fungal Sustainable Utilization in South and Southeast Asia, Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Yunnan Provincial Department of Education of the Deep-Time Evolution on Biodiversity from the Origin of the Pearl River, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, China"},{"name":"Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Samantha C.","family":"Karunarathna","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Yunnan Provincial Department of Education of the Deep-Time Evolution on Biodiversity from the Origin of the Pearl River, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, China"},{"name":"Center for Yunnan Plateau Biological Resources Protection and Utilization, College of Biology and Food Engineering, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Milan C.","family":"Samarakoon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Itthayakorn","family":"Promputtha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qian-Qian","family":"Tao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chun-I","family":"Chiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhen-Xiong","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiu-Juan","family":"Luo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Yunnan Provincial Department of Education of the Deep-Time Evolution on Biodiversity from the Origin of the Pearl River, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Martin M.","family":"Gakuubi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agriculture, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Mwenge Catholic University, Moshi, Tanzania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Steven L.","family":"Stephenson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, United States of America"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abdallah M.","family":"Elgorban","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center of Excellence in Biotechnology Research (CEBR), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alanoud T.","family":"Alfagham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nakarin","family":"Suwannarach","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center of Excellence in Microbial Diversity and Sustainable Utilization, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Entaj","family":"Tarafder","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Yunnan Plateau Biological Resources Protection and Utilization, College of Biology and Food Engineering, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory 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