Ethanol-Enriched Substrate Facilitates Ambrosia Beetle Fungi, but Inhibits Their Pathogens and Fungal Symbionts of Bark Beetles.

ABSTRACT: Bark beetles (sensu lato) colonize woody tissues like phloem or xylem and are associated with a broad range of micro-organisms. Specific fungi in the ascomycete orders Hypocreales, Microascales and Ophistomatales as well as the basidiomycete Russulales have been found to be of high importance for successful tree colonization and reproduction in many species. While fungal mutualisms are facultative for most phloem-colonizing bark beetles (sensu stricto), xylem-colonizing ambrosia beetles are long known to obligatorily depend on mutualistic fungi for nutrition of adults and larvae. Recently, a defensive role of fungal mutualists for their ambrosia beetle hosts was revealed: Few tested mutualists outcompeted other beetle-antagonistic fungi by their ability to produce, detoxify a

SUBMITTER: Lehenberger M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7838545 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature