Chapter 36 The Microbiome of Leaf-Cutter Ant Fungus Gardens Garret Suen, Jarrod J. Scott, Frank O... more Chapter 36 The Microbiome of Leaf-Cutter Ant Fungus Gardens Garret Suen, Jarrod J. Scott, Frank O. Aylward, and Cameron R. Currie 36.1 INTRODUCTION The evolution of fungus farming in ants has a single, Amazonian origin dating to the climactic optimum of the early ...
The ability to cultivate food is an innovation that has produced some of the most successful ecol... more The ability to cultivate food is an innovation that has produced some of the most successful ecological strategies on the planet. Although most well recognized in humans, where agriculture represents a defining feature of civilization, species of ants, beetles, and termites have also independently evolved symbioses with fungi that they cultivate for food. Despite occurring across divergent insect and fungal lineages, the fungivorous niches of these insects are remarkably similar, indicating convergent evolution toward this successful ecological strategy. Here, we characterize the microbiota of ants, beetles, and termites engaged in nutritional symbioses with fungi to define the bacterial groups associated with these prominent herbivores and forest pests. Using culture-independent techniques and the in silico reconstruction of 37 composite genomes of dominant community members, we demonstrate that different insect-fungal symbioses that collectively shape ecosystems worldwide have hig...
The Enterobacteriaceae bacterium strain FGI 57 was isolated from a fungus garden of the leaf-cutt... more The Enterobacteriaceae bacterium strain FGI 57 was isolated from a fungus garden of the leaf-cutter ant Atta colombica. Analysis of its single 4.76-Mbp chromosome will shed light on community dynamics and plant biomass degradation in ant fungus gardens.
Serratia sp. strain FGI 94 was isolated from a fungus garden of the leaf-cutter ant Atta colombic... more Serratia sp. strain FGI 94 was isolated from a fungus garden of the leaf-cutter ant Atta colombica. Analysis of its 4.86-Mbp chromosome will help advance our knowledge of symbiotic interactions and plant biomass degradation in this ancient ant-fungus mutualism.
Chapter 36 The Microbiome of Leaf-Cutter Ant Fungus Gardens Garret Suen, Jarrod J. Scott, Frank O... more Chapter 36 The Microbiome of Leaf-Cutter Ant Fungus Gardens Garret Suen, Jarrod J. Scott, Frank O. Aylward, and Cameron R. Currie 36.1 INTRODUCTION The evolution of fungus farming in ants has a single, Amazonian origin dating to the climactic optimum of the early ...
The ability to cultivate food is an innovation that has produced some of the most successful ecol... more The ability to cultivate food is an innovation that has produced some of the most successful ecological strategies on the planet. Although most well recognized in humans, where agriculture represents a defining feature of civilization, species of ants, beetles, and termites have also independently evolved symbioses with fungi that they cultivate for food. Despite occurring across divergent insect and fungal lineages, the fungivorous niches of these insects are remarkably similar, indicating convergent evolution toward this successful ecological strategy. Here, we characterize the microbiota of ants, beetles, and termites engaged in nutritional symbioses with fungi to define the bacterial groups associated with these prominent herbivores and forest pests. Using culture-independent techniques and the in silico reconstruction of 37 composite genomes of dominant community members, we demonstrate that different insect-fungal symbioses that collectively shape ecosystems worldwide have hig...
The Enterobacteriaceae bacterium strain FGI 57 was isolated from a fungus garden of the leaf-cutt... more The Enterobacteriaceae bacterium strain FGI 57 was isolated from a fungus garden of the leaf-cutter ant Atta colombica. Analysis of its single 4.76-Mbp chromosome will shed light on community dynamics and plant biomass degradation in ant fungus gardens.
Serratia sp. strain FGI 94 was isolated from a fungus garden of the leaf-cutter ant Atta colombic... more Serratia sp. strain FGI 94 was isolated from a fungus garden of the leaf-cutter ant Atta colombica. Analysis of its 4.86-Mbp chromosome will help advance our knowledge of symbiotic interactions and plant biomass degradation in this ancient ant-fungus mutualism.
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