Background Termites primarily feed on lignocellulose or soil in association with specific gut
microbes. The functioning of the termite gut microbiota is partly understood in a handful of
wood-feeding pest species but remains largely unknown in other taxa. We intend to fill this
gap and provide a global understanding of the functional evolution of termite gut microbiota.
Results We sequenced the gut metagenomes of 145 samples representative of the termite
diversity. We show that the prokaryotic fraction of the gut microbiota of all termites possesses …