Different lignocellulosic biomasses modulate the expression of CAZy and redox enzymes in the digestome of lower termite Coptotermes gestroi

Termites are considered the most efficient degrader in nature, since they convert lignocellulosic biomass with 65-90% of efficiency. This is possible due to termites and their symbionts posses a repertoire of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZy) that act in conjunction with pro-oxidant/antioxidant/detoxification enzymes (PADs) to overcome the recalcitrance of lignocellulose. The aim of this work was to comprehend differential expression of CAZy and PAD genes/enzymes, when C. gestroi was fed in two different sugarcane bagasses: in natura-(BIN) and phosphoric acid swollen sugarcane bagasse-(PASB) a cellulose/lignin-rich bagasse. C. gestroi’s works were fed on BIN and PASB for 21 days. RNA-Seq libraries were sequenced using Hi-Seq 2000 generating 425 million reads and 42 GB were sequenced. The reads were assembled generating ± 39.000 contigs used for CAZy and PAD enzymes discovering. Total reads were normalized and used to calculate the FPKM/fold-change for each gene identified. The analysis predicted 435 unigenes correlated with CAZy-PAD, such as 37 different families of GHs, 17 of CBMs, 6 CEs, 3 PLs, 6 AAs and 9 domains of PADs. The results suggest CAZy and PADs genes were up regulated in PASB, mainly GH1, GH9, GH13, GH18; AA1, AA3; and p450, AKR e ALDH. CAZy genes related to protists such as GH3, GH5, GH7, GH10 and GH11, were down regulated in PASB condition. We also identified, for the first time, a LPMO gene belongs to family AA10. Here, we described insights about how biomass composition can modulate the expression of CAZy and PAD genes in C. gestroi digestome.