Category: Uncategorized

BORROW, SWALLOW, AND RECYCLE. The Leafcutter ant fungus "produces specialized hyphal swellings called gongylidia that serve as the primary food source of ant colonies. Gongylidia also contain plant biomass-degrading enzymes that become concentrated in ant digestive tracts and are deposited within fecal droplets onto fresh foliar material as ants incorporate it into the fungus garden." https://lnkd.in/emyK7Pa View in LinkedIn

NUTRIENT SOURCE. "The loss of the arginine biosynthesis pathway in A. cephalotes may indicate the obligate reliance that it has on the fungus, as arginine is part of the nutrients that it provides to the ant." https://lnkd.in/eCSpjH7 View in LinkedIn

LEAFCUTTER LOST GENES. "A. cephalotes has gene reductions related to nutrient acquisition, and these losses may be compensated by the provision of these nutrients from the fungus. For example, the extensive reduction in serine proteases may reflect the lack of proteins in its diet since the fungus primarily provides nutrients in the form of carbohydrates and free amino acids." https://lnkd.in/eCSpjH7 View in LinkedIn

THIRD SYMBIOSIS. "To maintain a clean and healthy fungus colony, the ants have a bacteria on their exoskeleton which they use when cultivating the fungus. Some ants have this on their underbelly while ants that are in constant contact with the fungus are almost completely covered with the bacteria...The ants are able to use the bacteria, Pseudonocardia, with antibiotic qualities to fight against any invasive molds or fungi." The ants appear dusted with icing sugar. https://lnkd.in/eneZexX View in LinkedIn

LEAFCUTTER ANT GENE REDUCTION. "One prediction from this ant's lifestyle is that it has undergone genetic modifications that reflect its obligate dependence on the fungus for nutrients. Analysis of this genome sequence is consistent with this hypothesis, as we find evidence for reductions in genes related to nutrient acquisition." https://lnkd.in/eCSpjH7 View in LinkedIn

LEAF CUTTER ANT FARMING. "The ants actively cultivate their fungus, feeding it with freshly cut plant material and keeping it free from pests and molds. This mutualistic relationship is further augmented by another symbiotic partner; a bacterium that grows on the ants and secretes chemicals, - essentially the ants use portable antimicrobials." https://lnkd.in/ej4XkBq View in LinkedIn

GENETIC OUTSOURCING. "Mutual dependence of each family of ants on a single clonal crop. This life-time symbiotic matrimony allowed the ants to lose an entire amino acid synthesis pathway as it could become outsourced to the fungal crops." https://lnkd.in/ecXwDCi View in LinkedIn

ATTA MOBILE ANTIBIOTICS. "Their success appears to have been associated with active sanitation practices, involving detection and removal of infectious microbes from their gardens and domestication of antibiotic-producing filamentous bacteria." https://lnkd.in/e6r3DvK View in LinkedIn

"GENETIC CHANGES have occurred in the 50 million year symbiosis between the leafcutter ants and the cultivated fungi; the fungi became polyploid, and the ants lost at least two genes, due to their reliance on the fungus." https://lnkd.in/eSpnaXm View in LinkedIn

ALEXANDER FLEMING discovered penicillin 77 years ago (1928). He warned against resistance from careless overuse in his Nobel speech, and today we face widespread resistance. Leafcutter ants have been using antibiotics for over 50 million years, and because they also farm the antibiotic bacteria, which co-evolve with the pathogens, they have no persistent resistance. View in LinkedIn