Ant farmers practice proactive personal hygiene to protect their fungus crop

Morelos-Juárez, Citlalli; Walker, T. K.; Lopes, Juliane Floriano Santos; Hughes, William O.

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2010.04.047

Cited by 31 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…Curiously, however, ants tend to become immune to microorganisms such as Metarhizium as a result of exposure and contact by allogrooming [27]. On the other hand, self-grooming is a proactive behavior and is consequently stimulated by ants detecting the presence of individuals with microorganisms [28]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allogrooming, Self-Grooming, and Touching Behavior: Contamination Routes of Leaf-Cutting Ant Workers Using a Fat-Soluble Tracer Dye

Camargo

Puccini

Forti

et al. 2017

Insects

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The aim of this study was to determine whether worker self-grooming, allogrooming, and direct contact promotes the dispersal of substances among members of the colony. For this purpose, a tracer (Sudan III dye) was applied topically to a worker ant and the social interactions between the worker with the tracer and workers without the tracer were studied. Additionally, the worker heads were dissected to visualize whether or not the post-pharyngeal gland was stained. The post-pharyngeal glands from 50% to 70% of workers were stained depending on the size of the group. With the increase in the experimental group size, the frequency of interactions between workers increased, with touching being the most frequent behavior. The tracer dye was probably passed on by direct contact between workers, followed by self-grooming and allogrooming. These behaviors are responsible for the rapid dispersal of substances among colony members as observed in our experiment. The results therefore support the hypothesis that contact with substances promotes the contamination of nestmates, even in the absence of feeding, serving as a model for further studies on the contamination of workers with the active ingredients of insecticides.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allogrooming, Self-Grooming, and Touching Behavior: Contamination Routes of Leaf-Cutting Ant Workers Using a Fat-Soluble Tracer Dye

Camargo

Puccini

Forti

et al. 2017

Insects

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“…The same method is used for the removal of weeds from the fungus garden [3]. Worker ants decontaminate themselves by selfgrooming and other colony members by allo-grooming [4]. Apart from these behavioural tactics, ants also employ chemical defences against parasites that include the secretion of antibiotic compounds from the metapleural glands [5], and the production of antibiotics by bacteria associated with the integument [6] or present in the fungus garden [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symbiotic bacteria on the cuticle of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus protect workers from attack by entomopathogenic fungi

2011

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Although only discovered in 1999, the symbiotic filamentous actinobacteria present on the integument of certain species of leaf-cutting ants have been the subject of intense research. These bacteria have been shown to specifically suppress fungal garden parasites by secretion of antibiotics. However, more recently, a wider role for these bacteria has been suggested from research revealing their generalist anti-fungal activity. Here we show, for the first time, evidence for a role of these bacteria in the defence of young worker ants against a fungal entomopathogen. Experimental removal of the bacterial bio-film using an antibiotic resulted in a significant increase in susceptibility of worker ants to infection by the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae . This is the first direct evidence for the advantage of maintaining a bacterial bio-film on the cuticle as a defensive strategy of the ants themselves and not exclusively for protection of the fungus garden.

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“…In addition, social insects also have group defences, including allogrooming, the transfer of antimicrobial secretions and physiological immune products, and the incorporation of antimicrobial compounds from the environment. These group defences, termed 'social immunity' in its broad sense, are adaptive and proactive, and can result in the social lifestyle producing a net benefit to social insect hosts in terms of the within-colony interactions with parasites (Hughes et al, 2002;Morelos-Juárez et al, 2010;Walker and Hughes, 2009;Rosengaus et al, 1998;Ugelvig and Cremer, 2007;Cremer et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weaving resistance: silk and disease resistance in the weaver ant Polyrhachis dives

Fountain

Hughes

2011

Insect. Soc.

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Social insects are at risk from a diverse range of parasites. The antibiotic-producing metapleural gland is an ancestral trait in ants which is thought to be one of their primary mechanisms of resistance. However, the metapleural gland has been lost secondarily in three ant genera, which include weaver ants that are characterised by the remarkable construction of their nests using larval silk. Silken nests may have allowed reduced investment in costly disease resistance mechanisms like the metapleural gland if the silk has antimicrobial properties, as in other insects, or is a hygienic substrate. Here we examine this hypothesis in the weaver ant Polyrhachis dives. We found no evidence of a beneficial effect of silk. The presence of silk did not improve the already high resistance of ants to the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium, the ants only rarely interacted with the silk regardless of whether they were exposed to Metarhizium or not, and silk also did not inhibit the in vitro germination or growth of Metarhizium. Furthermore, silk was found in vitro to be heavily contaminated with the facultative entomopathogenic fungus Aspergillus flavus, and many more ants sporulated with this fungus when kept with silk in vivo than when they were kept without silk. Further work is needed to examine the effects of silk on other parasites and of silk from other weaver ants. However, the results in combination suggest that silk in P. dives is unlikely to provide protection against parasites and that it is also not a hygienic substrate. Alternative explanations may therefore be needed for the loss of the metapleural gland in weaver ants.

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Ant farmers practice proactive personal hygiene to protect their fungus crop

Cited by 31 publications

References 9 publications

Allogrooming, Self-Grooming, and Touching Behavior: Contamination Routes of Leaf-Cutting Ant Workers Using a Fat-Soluble Tracer Dye

Allogrooming, Self-Grooming, and Touching Behavior: Contamination Routes of Leaf-Cutting Ant Workers Using a Fat-Soluble Tracer Dye

Symbiotic bacteria on the cuticle of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus protect workers from attack by entomopathogenic fungi

Weaving resistance: silk and disease resistance in the weaver ant Polyrhachis dives

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