Comparative analysis of fungal communities in colonies of two leaf-cutting ant species with different substratum preferences

Pereira, Jaqueline S.; Costa, Rafael R. da; Nagamoto, Nilson S.; Forti, Luíz Carlos; Pagnocca, Fernando Carlos; Rodrigues, André

doi:10.1016/j.funeco.2016.03.004

Cited by 24 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(63 reference statements)

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“…All attine ants cultivate their fungal partners in a structure known as the fungus garden. The garden matrix harbors a microbiome full of yeasts (Carreiro et al 1997), bacteria (Kellner et al 2015;Meirelles et al 2016), and filamentous fungi (Reis et al 2015;Pereira et al 2016), including Escovopsis, a fungus genus considered as mycoparasites of the ant fungal cultivar (Currie et al 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Escovopsis kreiselii specialization to its native hosts in the fungiculture of the lower attine ant Mycetophylax morschi

Custódio

Rodrigues

2018

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

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Parasite-host associations are widespread in nature and the fungus-growing ants are considered model organisms to study such interactions. These insects cultivate basidiomycetous fungi for food, which are threatened by mycotrophic fungi in the genus Escovopsis. Although recently described from colonies of the lower attine ant Mycetophylax morschi, the biology and pathogenicity of Escovopsis kreiselii are unknown. Herein, we evaluated the interaction of E. kreiselii with fungi cultivated by M. morschi (native hosts) and with a fungus cultivated by another attine ant species (non-native host). In addition, we examined the physical interactions between hypha of E. kreiselii and hypha from its native hosts using scanning electron microscopy. Escovopsis kreiselii inhibited the growth of fungal cultivars by 24% or more (with exception of one isolate), when compared to the fungal cultivars growing alone. Escovopsis kreiselii is attracted towards its native hosts through chemotaxis and inhibition occurs when there is physical contact with the hyphae of the fungal cultivar. As reported for Escovopsis parasites associated with leafcutter ants (higher attines), E. kreiselii growth increased in the presence of its native hosts, even before contact between both fungi occurred. In interactions with the fungal cultivar that is not naturally infected by E. kreiselii (non-native host), it caused inhibition but not at the same magnitude as in native hosts. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that E. kreiselii is an antagonist of the fungus cultivated by M. morschi and can chemically recognize such fungus.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Escovopsis kreiselii specialization to its native hosts in the fungiculture of the lower attine ant Mycetophylax morschi

Custódio

Rodrigues

2018

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

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“…Escovopsioides isolates were obtained from fungus gardens of different leafcutter and non-leafcutter ant species collected in previous studies [ 18 – 20 , 29 , 30 ]. This collection comprises 20 isolates obtained from Atta sexdens , Atta capiguara , Atta cephalotes , Acromyrmex balzani , Acromyrmex heyeri , Acromyrmex lundi and Trachymyrmex tucumanus , in addition to the type species of E. nivea obtained from Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus (Table 3 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, fungi in the genus Escovopsioides (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) were described from fungus gardens of the leafcutter ants Acromyrmex niger , Acromyrmex subterraneus molestans and Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus [ 18 ]. Also, this fungus was found in 24% to 72% of the sampled colonies in different localities in Brazil [ 18 – 20 ]. Escovopsioides shares some morphological characteristics with Escovopsis but differ in others such as terminal vesicles with long (lageniform) phialides and hyphae with aleuroconidia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Escovopsioides as a fungal antagonist of the fungus cultivated by leafcutter ants

Osti

Rodrigues

2018

BMC Microbiol

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BackgroundFungus gardens of fungus-growing (attine) ants harbor complex microbiomes in addition to the mutualistic fungus they cultivate for food. Fungi in the genus Escovopsioides were recently described as members of this microbiome but their role in the ant-fungus symbiosis is poorly known. In this study, we assessed the phylogenetic diversity of 21 Escovopsioides isolates obtained from fungus gardens of leafcutter ants (genera Atta and Acromyrmex) and non-leafcutter ants (genera Trachymyrmex and Apterostigma) sampled from several regions in Brazil.ResultsRegardless of the sample locality or ant genera, phylogenetic analysis showed low genetic diversity among the 20 Escovopsisoides isolates examined, which prompted the identification as Escovopsioides nivea (the only described species in the genus). In contrast, one Escovopsioides isolate obtained from a fungus garden of Apterostigma megacephala was considered a new phylogenetic species. Dual-culture plate assays showed that Escovopsioides isolates inhibited the mycelium growth of Leucoagaricus gongylophorus, the mutualistic fungus cultivated by somes species of leafcutter ants. In addition, Escovopsioides growth experiments in fungus gardens with and without ant workers showed this fungus is detrimental to the ant-fungus symbiosis.ConclusionsHere, we provide clues for the antagonism of Escovopsioides towards the mutualistic fungus of leafcutter ants.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12866-018-1265-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Count data can be conceptualized as representing how often a specific event occurs, resulting in nonnegative integer values (Kosma et al, 2019). In the biological sciences, count data are produced in a variety of experiments, such as the analysis of fungal colonies (Pereira et al, 2016), counting of weed species in a given area (Heap;Duke, 2017), and counting of the number of leaves per seedling (Silva et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eucalyptus cloeziana seed count data: a comparative analysis of statistical models

et al. 2019

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Generalized linear models (GLMs) are an extension of the linear model and include the normal, Poisson, and negative binomial distributions. Although GLMs were introduced in 1972, most seed technology studies, especially those involving count data, such as germination tests of seeds from the genus Eucalyptus, still using the analysis of variance, without analysis of the fit of other models. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the most appropriate model in the GLM class for seed count data of Eucalyptus cloeziana. Data were obtained from a germination test using seeds from three lots of E. cloeziana. Each lot was separated by sieving into three material fractions based on size: small (<0.84 mm), medium (from 1.18 to 1.00 mm), and large (>1.18 mm). The data analysis was based on the use of GLMs adjusted to normal, Poisson, and negative binomial distributions, and the models were evaluated by the Akaike and Bayesian Schwartz criteria and Cook’s distance and half-normal diagnostic graphs. Compared to other adjustments, the normal distribution adjustment differed in the configuration of means submitted to the Tukey test, and although the data met all normality assumptions, the adjustment with the Poisson distribution was the most suitable for the count data from a germination test of E. cloeziana seeds.

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Comparative analysis of fungal communities in colonies of two leaf-cutting ant species with different substratum preferences

Cited by 24 publications

References 40 publications

Escovopsis kreiselii specialization to its native hosts in the fungiculture of the lower attine ant Mycetophylax morschi

Escovopsis kreiselii specialization to its native hosts in the fungiculture of the lower attine ant Mycetophylax morschi

Escovopsioides as a fungal antagonist of the fungus cultivated by leafcutter ants

Eucalyptus cloeziana seed count data: a comparative analysis of statistical models

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