Crescimento do fungo simbionte de formigas cortadeiras do gênero Acromyrmex em meios de cultura com diferentes extratos

Abstract

RESUMO As formigas cortadeiras mostram preferência por algumas espécies vegetais, as quais são constantemente desfolhadas, enquanto outras não são atacadas, embora sejam abundantes e localizadas próximas ao ninho. As formigas dos gêneros

Isolation and molecular characterization of symbiotic fungus from Acromyrmex ambiguus and Acromyrmex heyeri ants of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil

“…The symbiosis between ants and their fungus has been subject of many studies involving biochemical (BORBA et al, 2006;BACCI JR et al, 2013), metabolic and molecular aspects (SILVA-PINhATI et al, 2004).The results of this research demonstrate mostly that different species of leaf-cutting ants cultivate only Leucoagaricus gongylophorus as a single species of symbiotic fungus (SILVA-PINhATI et al, 2004;POULSEN & BOOMSMA, 2005). however, they could present two different strains (SILVA-PINhATI et al, 2004).…”

“…Until now, only BORBA et al (2006) had reported the isolation of this symbiotic fungi in the leaf-cutting ants A. heyeri, A. ambiguus, Acromyrmex crassipinus and Acromyrmex lundi in the municipal district of Capão do Leão (Brazil/RS), without, however, including the molecular identification of the fungus. In another study, comprising the southern and northern regions of Brazil, SILVA-PINhATI et al (2004) performed the cultivation and molecular characterization of L. gongylophorus in the Attine ant tribe including Atta and Acromyrmex species.…”

“…A. heyeri cultivate the fungus on fragments of entire leaves, while A. ambiguus breaks the leaves into tiny pieces. In this sense, studies have shown that L. gongylophorus come from different genera and species of leaf-cutting ants exhibit different physiological behaviors with respect to the culture medium, ph and temperature (BORBA et al, 2006;BORBA et al, 2007). In addition, POULSEN & BOOMSNA (2005) showed that agricultural monoculture developed by leaf-cutting ants is actively imposed by its symbiotic fungus.…”

“…The genes encoding the structural and metabolic proteins such as cytochromec oxidase subunit II (COXII) are being increasingly investigated; since this gene mutations were accumulate throughout evolution, which is useful to determine phylogenetic relationships (MARTIN, 2000). Whereas L. gongylophorus presents metabolic and nutritional changes depending on the kind of the cultivated leaf-cutting ant (BORBA et al, 2006), it can be suggested that future studies evaluating other more sensitive molecular markers such as COXII, are necessary to evaluate, validate and determine the phylogenetic relationships among isolates of L. gongylophorus from different strains of leaf-cutting ants.…”

“…however, they could present two different strains (SILVA-PINhATI et al, 2004). Moreover, the behavioral characteristics of fungal growth cultivated for different ants species differ in different culture media (LOECK et al, 2004;BORBA et al, 2006), and the foraging habits of different species of leaf cutting ants suggest that the symbiotic fungus can present nutritional differences (BORBA et al, 2006).…”