Nutritional upgrading for omnivorous carpenter ants by the endosymbiont Blochmannia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Carpenter ants (genus Camponotus) are considered to be omnivores. Nonetheless, the genome sequence of Blochmannia floridanus, the obligate intracellular endosymbiont of Camponotus floridanus, suggests a function in nutritional upgrading of host resources by the bacterium. Thus, the strongly reduced genome of the endosymbiont retains genes for all subunits of a functional urease, as well as those for biosynthetic pathways for all but one (arginine) of the amino acids essential to the host.

Results

Nutritional upgrading by Blochmannia was tested in 90-day feeding experiments with brood-raising in worker-groups on chemically defined diets with and without essential amino acids and treated or not with antibiotics. Control groups were fed with cockroaches, honey water

SUBMITTER: Feldhaar H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2206011 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature