Presence of non-symbiotic yeasts in a symbiont-transferring organ of a stag beetle that lacks yeast symbionts found in other stag beetles.

ABSTRACT: Dispersal from wood to wood is essential for wood-inhabiting fungi and wood-inhabiting insects play an important role in the dispersal success of such fungi. However, it is poorly understood whether wood-inhabiting insects which change the habitats from wood to non-wood environments can contribute to the fungal dispersal. Larvae of most stag beetles (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) are wood feeders, while adults are sap feeders. Female adults of lulcanids possess specialized organs (mycetangia) for transportation of fungal symbionts and harbor specific yeasts (e.g., Scheffersomyces spp.) within. Here, we report that the lucanid Aegus subnitidus harbors non-specific yeasts facultatively in mycetangia. We conducted yeast isolation from mycetangia and hindguts of female adults, in a larval gallery in

SUBMITTER: Yamamoto D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10014939 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature