Genomic Signatures of Domestication in a Fungus Obligately Farmed by Leafcutter Ants.

ABSTRACT: The naturally selected fungal crop (Leucoagaricus gongylophorus) farmed by leafcutter ants shows striking parallels with artificially selected plant crops domesticated by humans (e.g. polyploidy, engorged nutritional rewards, and dependence on cultivation). To date, poorly resolved L. gongylophorus genome assemblies based on short-read sequencing have constrained hypotheses about how millions of years under cultivation by ants shaped the fungal crop genome and potentially drove domestication. We use PacBio HiFi sequencing of L. gongylophorus from the leafcutter ant Atta colombica to identify 18 putatively novel biosynthetic gene clusters that likely cemented life as a cultivar (e.g. plant fragment degradation, ant-farmer communication, and antimicrobial defense). Comparative analyses with

SUBMITTER: Leal-Dutra CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11451569 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature