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My motivation to join this Biology Stack Exchange is the article by David Pride that I've read from the Spanish edition of Scientific American, that's Investigación y Ciencia. The article is [1], and I think that is a very good work from the author and editors of this popular science magazine.

Question. I would like to know if the fungi of a termite mound have beneficial effects on health (related to diseases caused by viruses or bacteria) for the termites that live in the termite mound.

I add that Wikipedia has the article Fungus, and what's I evoke with my Question, is about if some species of fungi could live with the termites inside the termite mound and have beneficial effects on the diseases suffered by the termites. I don't know if this question is in the literature, feel free to answer my question as a reference request if you know references answering my question.

References:

[1] David Pride, Los virus de nuestro cuerpo, Investigación y Ciencia, Febrero 2021, Nº 533, pages. 76-83.

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    $\begingroup$ I'm mathematician. If you think that you can to improve the post (tags, grammar...) please do it. If you think that the post isn't suitable for the site add a comment that I can to delete it in next few hours. Feel free to add your feedback about the question in comments. Many thanks. $\endgroup$
    – user71674
    Sep 3, 2022 at 18:03
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to Biology.SE. Please take the tour and then go through the help center pages starting with How to Ask questions effectively on this site and edit your question accordingly. In particular, questions are best received when they are clear and demonstrate significant prior research (tell us where you've looked for answers, what you do know about the topic). Also, the Investigación y Ciencia article is about human viruses not fungi or termites, so can you please clarify what in that article is relevant to your question? Finally, your last paragraph seems to mostly repeat the "Question" ... $\endgroup$
    – tyersome
    Sep 3, 2022 at 19:35
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    $\begingroup$ Welcome! To find articles on this try the keywords “termite fungus symbiosis.” $\endgroup$
    – Polypipe Wrangler
    Sep 4, 2022 at 5:18
  • $\begingroup$ ..and mathematicians can develop into truly useful bioinformaticians. $\endgroup$
    – Polypipe Wrangler
    Sep 4, 2022 at 5:29
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    $\begingroup$ I would like to add a thanking message for you @PolypipeWrangler and your colleagues of the site for this friendly welcoming, I add some subjects that I'm interested (don't related to this post but I share these for the friendly attitude of the users) because are curious, for example the hygroscopic property of honey; the Wikipedia article dedicated to Sepiolite in relation to processes for bacterial transformation, as refers the last phrase of this article dedicated to sepiolite; and I'm interested at the origin of life and diseases,... Isn't required a response, good afternoon to all users $\endgroup$
    – user71674
    Sep 5, 2022 at 17:37

1 Answer 1

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In at least one case termite cultivated fungus produce antibiotics that benefit the termites and protect them from dangerous fungus. Of course just the fungus acting as food is also a huge benefit to the termites.

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep03250

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  • $\begingroup$ As soon as I can (with score of 15 or more of reputation), I'm going to upvote your answer. I'm going to visit the page of Nature, and I'm accepting your answer. $\endgroup$
    – user71674
    Sep 4, 2022 at 13:42

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