Evolutionary patterns of proteinase activity in attine ant fungus gardens.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Attine ants live in symbiosis with a basidiomycetous fungus that they rear on a substrate of plant material. This indirect herbivory implies that the symbiosis is likely to be nitrogen deprived, so that specific mechanisms may have evolved to enhance protein availability. We therefore hypothesized that fungal proteinase activity may have been under selection for efficiency and that different classes of proteinases might be involved.

Results

We determined proteinase activity profiles across a wide pH range for fungus gardens of 14 Panamanian species of fungus-growing ants, representing eight genera. We mapped these activity profiles on an independently obtained molecular phylogeny of the symbionts and show that total proteinase activity in lower attine symbionts pe

SUBMITTER: Semenova TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3033787 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature