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Analysis of the bacterial communities associated with two ant–plant symbioses

Insect fungiculture is practiced by ants, termites, beetles, and gall midges and it has been suggested to be widespread among plant–ants. Some of the insects engaged in fungiculture, including attine ants and bark beetles, are known to use symbiotic antibiotic-producing actinobacteria to protect the...

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Autores principales: Seipke, Ryan F, Barke, Jörg, Heavens, Darren, Yu, Douglas W, Hutchings, Matthew I
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633351/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23417898
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mbo3.73
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author Seipke, Ryan F
Barke, Jörg
Heavens, Darren
Yu, Douglas W
Hutchings, Matthew I
author_facet Seipke, Ryan F
Barke, Jörg
Heavens, Darren
Yu, Douglas W
Hutchings, Matthew I
author_sort Seipke, Ryan F
collection PubMed
description Insect fungiculture is practiced by ants, termites, beetles, and gall midges and it has been suggested to be widespread among plant–ants. Some of the insects engaged in fungiculture, including attine ants and bark beetles, are known to use symbiotic antibiotic-producing actinobacteria to protect themselves and their fungal cultivars against infection. In this study, we analyze the bacterial communities on the cuticles of the plant–ant genera Allomerus and Tetraponera using deep sequencing of 16S rRNA. Allomerus ants cultivate fungus as a building material to strengthen traps for prey, while Tetraponera ants cultivate fungus as a food source. We report that Allomerus and Tetraponera microbiomes contain >75% Proteobacteria and remarkably the bacterial phyla that dominate their cuticular microbiomes are very similar despite their geographic separation (South America and Africa, respectively). Notably, antibiotic-producing actinomycete bacteria represent a tiny fraction of the cuticular microbiomes of both Allomerus and Tetraponera spp. and instead they are dominated by γ-proteobacteria Erwinia and Serratia spp. Both these phyla are known to contain antibiotic-producing species which might therefore play a protective role in these ant–plant systems.
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spelling pubmed-36333512013-04-24 Analysis of the bacterial communities associated with two ant–plant symbioses Seipke, Ryan F Barke, Jörg Heavens, Darren Yu, Douglas W Hutchings, Matthew I Microbiologyopen Original Research Insect fungiculture is practiced by ants, termites, beetles, and gall midges and it has been suggested to be widespread among plant–ants. Some of the insects engaged in fungiculture, including attine ants and bark beetles, are known to use symbiotic antibiotic-producing actinobacteria to protect themselves and their fungal cultivars against infection. In this study, we analyze the bacterial communities on the cuticles of the plant–ant genera Allomerus and Tetraponera using deep sequencing of 16S rRNA. Allomerus ants cultivate fungus as a building material to strengthen traps for prey, while Tetraponera ants cultivate fungus as a food source. We report that Allomerus and Tetraponera microbiomes contain >75% Proteobacteria and remarkably the bacterial phyla that dominate their cuticular microbiomes are very similar despite their geographic separation (South America and Africa, respectively). Notably, antibiotic-producing actinomycete bacteria represent a tiny fraction of the cuticular microbiomes of both Allomerus and Tetraponera spp. and instead they are dominated by γ-proteobacteria Erwinia and Serratia spp. Both these phyla are known to contain antibiotic-producing species which might therefore play a protective role in these ant–plant systems. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2013-04 2013-02-17 /pmc/articles/PMC3633351/ /pubmed/23417898 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mbo3.73 Text en © 2013 Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation.
spellingShingle Original Research
Seipke, Ryan F
Barke, Jörg
Heavens, Darren
Yu, Douglas W
Hutchings, Matthew I
Analysis of the bacterial communities associated with two ant–plant symbioses
title Analysis of the bacterial communities associated with two ant–plant symbioses
title_full Analysis of the bacterial communities associated with two ant–plant symbioses
title_fullStr Analysis of the bacterial communities associated with two ant–plant symbioses
title_full_unstemmed Analysis of the bacterial communities associated with two ant–plant symbioses
title_short Analysis of the bacterial communities associated with two ant–plant symbioses
title_sort analysis of the bacterial communities associated with two ant–plant symbioses
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633351/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23417898
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mbo3.73
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