Fungus-growing insects host a distinctive microbiota apparently adapted to the fungiculture environment.

ABSTRACT: Some lineages of ants, termites, and beetles independently evolved a symbiotic association with lignocellulolytic fungi cultivated for food, in a lifestyle known as fungiculture. Fungus-growing insects' symbiosis also hosts a bacterial community thought to integrate their physiology. Similarities in taxonomic composition support the microbiota of fungus-growing insects as convergent, despite differences in fungus-rearing by these insects. Here, by comparing fungus-growing insects to several hosts ranging diverse dietary patterns, we investigate whether the microbiota taxonomic and functional profiles are characteristic of the fungiculture environment. Compared to other hosts, the microbiota associated with fungus-growing insects presents a distinctive taxonomic profile, dominated by Gammap

SUBMITTER: Barcoto MO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7381635 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature