Monoculture of Leafcutter Ant Gardens
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2010 |
Outros Autores: | , , , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Institucional da UNESP |
Texto Completo: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012668 http://hdl.handle.net/11449/20204 |
Resumo: | Background: Leafcutter ants depend on the cultivation of symbiotic Attamyces fungi for food, which are thought to be grown by the ants in single-strain, clonal monoculture throughout the hundreds to thousands of gardens within a leafcutter nest. Monoculture eliminates cultivar-cultivar competition that would select for competitive fungal traits that are detrimental to the ants, whereas polyculture of several fungi could increase nutritional diversity and disease resistance of genetically variable gardens.Methodology/Principal Findings: Using three experimental approaches, we assessed cultivar diversity within nests of Atta leafcutter ants, which are most likely among all fungus-growing ants to cultivate distinct cultivar genotypes per nest because of the nests' enormous sizes (up to 5000 gardens) and extended lifespans (10-20 years). In Atta texana and in A. cephalotes, we resampled nests over a 5-year period to test for persistence of resident cultivar genotypes within each nest, and we tested for genetic differences between fungi from different nest sectors accessed through excavation. In A. texana, we also determined the number of Attamyces cells carried as a starter inoculum by a dispersing queens (minimally several thousand Attamyces cells), and we tested for genetic differences between Attamyces carried by sister queens dispersing from the same nest. Except for mutational variation arising during clonal Attamyces propagation, DNA fingerprinting revealed no evidence for fungal polyculture and no genotype turnover during the 5-year surveys.Conclusions/Significance: Atta leafcutter ants can achieve stable, fungal monoculture over many years. Mutational variation emerging within an Attamyces monoculture could provide genetic diversity for symbiont choice (gardening biases of the ants favoring specific mutational variants), an analog of artificial selection. |
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Monoculture of Leafcutter Ant GardensBackground: Leafcutter ants depend on the cultivation of symbiotic Attamyces fungi for food, which are thought to be grown by the ants in single-strain, clonal monoculture throughout the hundreds to thousands of gardens within a leafcutter nest. Monoculture eliminates cultivar-cultivar competition that would select for competitive fungal traits that are detrimental to the ants, whereas polyculture of several fungi could increase nutritional diversity and disease resistance of genetically variable gardens.Methodology/Principal Findings: Using three experimental approaches, we assessed cultivar diversity within nests of Atta leafcutter ants, which are most likely among all fungus-growing ants to cultivate distinct cultivar genotypes per nest because of the nests' enormous sizes (up to 5000 gardens) and extended lifespans (10-20 years). In Atta texana and in A. cephalotes, we resampled nests over a 5-year period to test for persistence of resident cultivar genotypes within each nest, and we tested for genetic differences between fungi from different nest sectors accessed through excavation. In A. texana, we also determined the number of Attamyces cells carried as a starter inoculum by a dispersing queens (minimally several thousand Attamyces cells), and we tested for genetic differences between Attamyces carried by sister queens dispersing from the same nest. Except for mutational variation arising during clonal Attamyces propagation, DNA fingerprinting revealed no evidence for fungal polyculture and no genotype turnover during the 5-year surveys.Conclusions/Significance: Atta leafcutter ants can achieve stable, fungal monoculture over many years. Mutational variation emerging within an Attamyces monoculture could provide genetic diversity for symbiont choice (gardening biases of the ants favoring specific mutational variants), an analog of artificial selection.National Science FoundationConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Univ Texas Austin, Sect Integrat Biol, Austin, TX 78712 USASmithsonian Trop Res Inst, Balboa, Ancon, PanamaUniv Wisconsin, Dept Bacteriol, Madison, WI 53706 USAState Univ São Paulo UNESP, Ctr Study Social Insects, São Paulo, BrazilSanta Cruz State Univ UESC, Dept Biol Sci, Ilheus, BA, BrazilState Univ São Paulo UNESP, Ctr Study Social Insects, São Paulo, BrazilNSF: DEB-0920138NSF: DEB-0639879NSF: DEB-0110073NSF: DEB-0949689CNPq: 02/05Public Library ScienceUniv Texas AustinSmithsonian Trop Res InstUniv WisconsinUniversidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC)Mueller, Ulrich G.Scott, Jarrod J.Ishak, Heather D.Cooper, MichaelRodrigues, Andre [UNESP]2013-09-30T18:47:40Z2014-05-20T13:56:32Z2013-09-30T18:47:40Z2014-05-20T13:56:32Z2010-09-10info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/article7application/pdfhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012668Plos One. San Francisco: Public Library Science, v. 5, n. 9, p. 7, 2010.1932-6203http://hdl.handle.net/11449/2020410.1371/journal.pone.0012668WOS:000281687300012WOS000281687300012.pdf0000-0002-4164-9362Web of Sciencereponame:Repositório Institucional da UNESPinstname:Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)instacron:UNESPengPLOS ONE2.7661,164info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess2024-04-11T14:57:20Zoai:repositorio.unesp.br:11449/20204Repositório InstitucionalPUBhttp://repositorio.unesp.br/oai/requestopendoar:29462024-04-11T14:57:20Repositório Institucional da UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)false |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Monoculture of Leafcutter Ant Gardens |
title |
Monoculture of Leafcutter Ant Gardens |
spellingShingle |
Monoculture of Leafcutter Ant Gardens Mueller, Ulrich G. |
title_short |
Monoculture of Leafcutter Ant Gardens |
title_full |
Monoculture of Leafcutter Ant Gardens |
title_fullStr |
Monoculture of Leafcutter Ant Gardens |
title_full_unstemmed |
Monoculture of Leafcutter Ant Gardens |
title_sort |
Monoculture of Leafcutter Ant Gardens |
author |
Mueller, Ulrich G. |
author_facet |
Mueller, Ulrich G. Scott, Jarrod J. Ishak, Heather D. Cooper, Michael Rodrigues, Andre [UNESP] |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Scott, Jarrod J. Ishak, Heather D. Cooper, Michael Rodrigues, Andre [UNESP] |
author2_role |
author author author author |
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Univ Texas Austin Smithsonian Trop Res Inst Univ Wisconsin Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC) |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Mueller, Ulrich G. Scott, Jarrod J. Ishak, Heather D. Cooper, Michael Rodrigues, Andre [UNESP] |
description |
Background: Leafcutter ants depend on the cultivation of symbiotic Attamyces fungi for food, which are thought to be grown by the ants in single-strain, clonal monoculture throughout the hundreds to thousands of gardens within a leafcutter nest. Monoculture eliminates cultivar-cultivar competition that would select for competitive fungal traits that are detrimental to the ants, whereas polyculture of several fungi could increase nutritional diversity and disease resistance of genetically variable gardens.Methodology/Principal Findings: Using three experimental approaches, we assessed cultivar diversity within nests of Atta leafcutter ants, which are most likely among all fungus-growing ants to cultivate distinct cultivar genotypes per nest because of the nests' enormous sizes (up to 5000 gardens) and extended lifespans (10-20 years). In Atta texana and in A. cephalotes, we resampled nests over a 5-year period to test for persistence of resident cultivar genotypes within each nest, and we tested for genetic differences between fungi from different nest sectors accessed through excavation. In A. texana, we also determined the number of Attamyces cells carried as a starter inoculum by a dispersing queens (minimally several thousand Attamyces cells), and we tested for genetic differences between Attamyces carried by sister queens dispersing from the same nest. Except for mutational variation arising during clonal Attamyces propagation, DNA fingerprinting revealed no evidence for fungal polyculture and no genotype turnover during the 5-year surveys.Conclusions/Significance: Atta leafcutter ants can achieve stable, fungal monoculture over many years. Mutational variation emerging within an Attamyces monoculture could provide genetic diversity for symbiont choice (gardening biases of the ants favoring specific mutational variants), an analog of artificial selection. |
publishDate |
2010 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2010-09-10 2013-09-30T18:47:40Z 2013-09-30T18:47:40Z 2014-05-20T13:56:32Z 2014-05-20T13:56:32Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012668 Plos One. San Francisco: Public Library Science, v. 5, n. 9, p. 7, 2010. 1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/11449/20204 10.1371/journal.pone.0012668 WOS:000281687300012 WOS000281687300012.pdf 0000-0002-4164-9362 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012668 http://hdl.handle.net/11449/20204 |
identifier_str_mv |
Plos One. San Francisco: Public Library Science, v. 5, n. 9, p. 7, 2010. 1932-6203 10.1371/journal.pone.0012668 WOS:000281687300012 WOS000281687300012.pdf 0000-0002-4164-9362 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
PLOS ONE 2.766 1,164 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
7 application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Public Library Science |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Public Library Science |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
Web of Science reponame:Repositório Institucional da UNESP instname:Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) instacron:UNESP |
instname_str |
Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) |
instacron_str |
UNESP |
institution |
UNESP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Institucional da UNESP |
collection |
Repositório Institucional da UNESP |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
Repositório Institucional da UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) |
repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
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1803649862813614080 |