Symbiotic bacterial communities in rainforest fungus-farming ants: evidence for species and colony specificity

Autor(es)

Ronque, Mariane U. V. ^[1] ; Lyra, Mariana L. ^[2] ; Migliorini, Gustavo H. ^[3] ; Bacci, Mauricio ^[4] ; Oliveira, Paulo S. ^[5]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Programa Posgrad Ecol, CP 6109, BR-13083862 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Estadual Paulista, Inst Biociencias, Dept Biodiversidade, Campus Rio Claro, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Estadual Paulista, Programa Posgrad Biol Anim, Campus Sao Jose do Rio Preto, BR-15054000 Sao Jose Do Rio Preto, SP - Brazil

^[4] Univ Estadual Paulista, Ctr Estudos Insetos Sociais, Campus Rio Claro, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP - Brazil

^[5] Univ Estadual Campinas, Dept Biol Anim, CP 6109, BR-13083862 Campinas, SP - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS; v. 10, n. 1 JUN 23 2020.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Animals may host diverse bacterial communities that can markedly affect their behavioral physiology, ecology, and vulnerability to disease. Fungus-farming ants represent a classical example of mutualism that depends on symbiotic microorganisms. Unraveling the bacterial communities associated with fungus-farming ants is essential to understand the role of these microorganisms in the ant-fungus symbiosis. The bacterial community structure of five species of fungus-farmers (non-leaf-cutters; genera Mycocepurus, Mycetarotes, Mycetophylax, and Sericomyrmex) from three different environments in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest (lowland forest, restinga forest, and sand dunes) was characterized with amplicon-based Illumina sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Possible differences in bacterial communities between ants internal to the nest (on the fungus garden) and external foragers were also investigated. Our results on the richness and diversity of associated bacteria provide novel evidence that these communities are host- and colony-specific in fungus-farming ants. Indeed, the bacterial communities associated with external foragers differ among the five species, and among colonies of the same species. Furthermore, bacterial communities from internal ants vs. foragers do not differ or differ only slightly within each ant species. This study highlights the importance of describing ant-associated bacterial communities to better understand this host-bacterial interaction in the social environment of insect colonies and provides the foundation for future studies on the ecological and evolutionary processes that drive the success of fungus-farming ants. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 17/26162-8 - Diversidade e conservação dos anfíbios brasileiros
• Beneficiário: Mariana Lúcio Lyra
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Programa Capacitação - Treinamento Técnico
• Processo FAPESP: 17/16645-1 - Ecologia molecular de formigas neotropicais
• Beneficiário: Paulo Sergio Moreira Carvalho de Oliveira
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 14/23141-1 - Ecologia de interações, ecologia comportamental e biologia molecular de formigas neotropicais
• Beneficiário: Paulo Sergio Moreira Carvalho de Oliveira
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Regular