First evidence of an intimate symbiotic association between fungi and larvae in basal attine ants

Ortiz, Gabriela; Camargo‐Mathias, Maria Izabel; Bueno, Odair Corrêa

doi:10.1016/j.micron.2011.08.011

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…; Camargo et al . ; Ortiz, Mathias & Bueno ) and is similar to fungal planting behaviour that occurs on the garden substrate (Lopes et al . ).…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 61%

“…), so brood appear as having a mycelial cocoon when fungal cover becomes extensive. Histological sections of larvae from phylogenetically more basal species showed that the fungal hyphae emit projections to the interior of the cuticle, suggesting that the relationship between the fungal covering and the larval cuticle is intimate (Ortiz, Mathias & Bueno ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Slowing them down will make them lose: a role for attine ant crop fungus in defending pupae against infections?

Armitage

Fernández‐Marín

Boomsma

et al. 2016

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Summary Fungus‐growing ants (Attini) have evolved an obligate dependency upon a basidiomycete fungus that they cultivate as their food. Less well known is that the crop fungus is also used by many attine species to cover their eggs, larvae and pupae.The adaptive functional significance of this brood covering is poorly understood. One hypothesis to account for this behaviour is that it is part of the pathogen protection portfolio when many thousands of sister workers live in close proximity and larvae and pupae are not protected by cells, as in bees and wasps, and are immobile.We performed behavioural observations on brood covering in the leaf‐cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior, and we experimentally manipulated mycelial cover on pupae and exposed them to the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum to test for a role in pathogen resistance.Our results show that active mycelial brood covering by workers is a behaviourally plastic trait that varies temporally, and across life stages and castes. The presence of a fungal cover on the pupae reduced the rate at which conidia appeared and the percentage of pupal surface that produced pathogen spores, compared to pupae that had fungal cover experimentally removed or naturally had no mycelial cover. Infected pupae with mycelium had higher survival rates than infected pupae without the cover, although this depended upon the time at which adult sister workers were allowed to interact with pupae. Finally, workers employed higher rates of metapleural gland grooming to infected pupae without mycelium than to infected pupae with mycelium.Our results imply that mycelial brood covering may play a significant role in suppressing the growth and subsequent spread of disease, thus adding a novel layer of protection to their defence portfolio.

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“…; Camargo et al . ; Ortiz, Mathias & Bueno ) and is similar to fungal planting behaviour that occurs on the garden substrate (Lopes et al . ).…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 61%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slowing them down will make them lose: a role for attine ant crop fungus in defending pupae against infections?

Armitage

Fernández‐Marín

Boomsma

et al. 2016

Journal of Animal Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Attini ants have maintained a mutualistic relationship with basidiomycete fungi, in an obligatory association for around 50 million years [8]. The interaction with the fungus is not restricted to feeding, once symbiotic associations between larvae and fungi in basal attini have been reported in the literature [9]. Based on morphometric analyses, Sericomyrmex and Trachymyrmex together form a distinct group from the other genera.…”

Section: Mutualistic Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaf-Cutter Ants and Microbial Control

Travaglini¹,

Vieira²,

AndréArnosti³

et al. 2018

The Complex World of Ants

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The attini tribe comprises fungusgrowing ants, such as the basal Apterostigma and other more specialized genera, including the higher attine and the ones that cut the fresh plant tissue (Atta and Acromyrmex), maintaining an obligatory mutualistic relation with the fungus Leucoagaricus gongylophorus, which serves as a food source for the ants. Leaf-cutter ants are considered agriculture pests and populate the soil, a rich environment, especially due to the presence of several microorganisms. Some of these microorganisms are natural enemies that may cause epizootics (quickly spreading opportunistic diseases). Such defence strategies include polyethism, that is, division of labor among the individuals. The older ants take on the responsibility of foraging, as their integument is harder and heavily sclerotized, serving as a protective barrier against pathogens (including bacteria and antagonistic fungi). The younger ants, whose metapleural glands synthetize important secretions to eliminate and control microorganisms that could attack the colony fungus garden and the immature (larvae and pupae), remain inside the colony cultivating symbiont fungi. The sum of the survival strategies of ants in general, including social immunity and nest-cleaning behavior, represents a barrier for the application of biological control programs, mainly microbial ones.

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First evidence of an intimate symbiotic association between fungi and larvae in basal attine ants

Cited by 2 publications

References 25 publications

Slowing them down will make them lose: a role for attine ant crop fungus in defending pupae against infections?

Slowing them down will make them lose: a role for attine ant crop fungus in defending pupae against infections?

Leaf-Cutter Ants and Microbial Control

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