Layers of Symbiosis - Visualizing the Termite Hindgut Microbial Community

Jared Leadbetter

doi:10.3791/197

Cite this Article: Layers of Symbiosis - Visualizing the Termite Hindgut Microbial Community

Leadbetter, J. Layers of Symbiosis - Visualizing the Termite Hindgut Microbial Community. J. Vis. Exp. (4), e197, doi:10.3791/197 (2007).

Abstract: Layers of Symbiosis - Visualizing the Termite Hindgut Microbial Community

Jared Leadbetter takes us for a nature walk through the diversity of life resident in the termite hindgut - a microenvironment containing 250 different species found nowhere else on Earth. Jared reveals that the symbiosis exhibited by this system is multi-layered and involves not only a relationship between the termite and its gut inhabitants, but also involves a complex web of symbiosis among the gut microbes themselves.

Disclosures: Layers of Symbiosis - Visualizing the Termite Hindgut Microbial Community

The authors have nothing to disclose.

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4 Comments

Wonderful images, a tiny universe waiting to be explored.

Posted by: AnonymousJune 25, 2007, 3:57 PM

Dr. Leadbetter could not have led us any better into the termite gut and its microenvironment. I would have never thought or imagined the complex biology in the gut of the termite and how knowing that biology would actually have global impacts. The movies are amazing and the enthusiasm of Dr. Leadbetter is remarkable.

Posted by: AnonymousJuly 6, 2007, 10:12 PM

I found this video very interesting, highly educative and fun to watch!

Posted by: AnonymousSeptember 12, 2007, 7:08 AM

Thank you this was very interesting!

Posted by: Wendy P.April 18, 2010, 12:41 PM

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Date Published	5/28/2007
JoVE Section	General
JoVE Issue	4
Comments	4 Comments
View Count	Loading... (Details…)
DOI	doi:10.3791/197