Month: September 2022

"THE COMPLEXITY of the leaf-cutter ant symbiosis is further highlighted by the presence of a specialized microfungal pathogen that exploits the ant-fungus mutualism. As a result, the leaf-cutter ant symbiosis comprises at least three established mutualists and one specialized pathogen...this ant-microbe symbiosis is perhaps one of the most complex examples of symbiosis currently described." https://lnkd.in/eCSpjH7 View in LinkedIn

"MONOCULTURE of fungi in the long-lived, sessile Atta nests is expected to facilitate build-up of specialized diseases, which is the bane of clonally propagated crops in human agriculture (e.g., banana, sugar cane, potato." https://lnkd.in/ew5j47P View in LinkedIn

HYGENE PROCEDURES. "A cast of small Atta workers is dedicated largely to the tending and cleaning of garden...Sequestration into discrete garden units also permits the ants to respond locally to disease, for example by sealing off an infected garden and thus prevent a pandemic spread of a disease throughout a nest." http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0012668 View in LinkedIn

DIVISION OF LABOR. "The necrotrophic parasitic fungus Escovopsis threatens the ants' food source, thus is a constant danger to the ants. The waste transporters and waste-heap workers are the older, more dispensable leafcutter ants, ensuring the healthier and younger ants can work on the fungal garden." https://lnkd.in/ej4XkBq View in LinkedIn

CO-DEPENDENT. "Neither ant nor fungus can survive without the other. Their partnership has fuelled the leafcutters’ success—they come in more than 40 species, and have among the largest colonies of any ant." https://lnkd.in/ekUnHks View in LinkedIn

GARDEN MICROBIOME. "Atta gardens contain a great diversity of antibiotic-secreting microbes in the biofilms and matrix of the gardens (the so-called garden microbiome) that may help suppress diseases." http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0012668 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

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

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

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