BACKGROUNDTermites live underground in a social setting having continuous contact with microorganism. However, there is no comparative study on virus diversity and relative abundance between termites, castes and body parts in termites. To address this gap, pseudergates of Cryptotermes declivis, workers of the Odontotermes formosanus, and workers, soldiers and alates of the Reticulitermes chinensis were used as experimental materials to perform virome sequencing, virus annotations and their relative abundance analysis.RESULTSIt was found that three termites showed different virome taxonomic compositions, abundances and distributions. Small number of viruses were detected in the head, which indicated that the diversity of the virus in the thorax‐abdomen is greater than that in the head. Notable differences in viruses between castes in R. chinensis were observed. Eight candidate viruses from the virome of R. chinensis were cloned and identified. To check the influences of viruses on termite behaviors, RNA interference of R. chinensis betsystermes virus (RcBsV) and R. chinensis bracovirus (RcBV) was successfully performed. The relative abundance of the two targeted viruses were significantly decreased in workers of R. chinensis fed on dsRcBsV and dsRcBV. The duration of aggressive behaviors significantly increased, while altruistic behaviors significantly decreased, suggesting that the reduced relative abundance of RcBsV and RcBV resulted in the disruption of normal social behaviors in termites.CONCLUSIONThese findings enhance our understanding of viral diversity in different termites and castes and its behavioral impacts on termites, which can be used to control termites. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

中文翻译：

---

白蚁病毒的筛选和鉴定：RcBsV 和 RcBV 的行为调节作用


背景蝙蝠生活在地下的社交环境中，与微生物持续接触。然而，目前还没有关于白蚁、种姓和白蚁身体部位之间的病毒多样性和相对丰度的比较研究。为了解决这一差距，以 Cryptotermes declivis、Odontotermes formosanus 的工人以及 Reticulitermes chinensis 的工人、士兵和别名作为实验材料进行病毒组测序、病毒注释及其相对丰度分析。结果发现 3 种白蚁表现出不同的病毒组分类组成、丰度和分布。在头部检测到少量病毒，表明病毒在胸腹部的多样性大于头部。观察到 R. chinensis 种姓间病毒的显着差异。克隆并鉴定了 8 个来自中华白兰病毒组的候选病毒。为研究病毒对白蚁行为的影响，成功进行了中华红蚁病毒 （RcBsV） 和中华红蚁病毒 （RcBV） 的 RNA 干扰。两种目标病毒在以 dsRcBsV 和 dsRcBV 为食的中华红豆工蜂中相对丰度显著降低。攻击性行为的持续时间显著增加，而利他行为显著减少，表明 RcBsV 和 RcBV 的相对丰度降低导致白蚁正常社会行为的破坏。结论这些发现增强了我们对不同白蚁和种姓病毒多样性及其对白蚁行为影响的理解，可用于控制白蚁。© 2024 化工学会.