Burkholderia from Fungus Gardens of Fungus-Growing Ants Produces Antifungals That Inhibit the Specialized Parasite Escovopsis.

ABSTRACT: Within animal-associated microbiomes, the functional roles of specific microbial taxa are often uncharacterized. Here, we use the fungus-growing ant system, a model for microbial symbiosis, to determine the potential defensive roles of key bacterial taxa present in the ants' fungus gardens. Fungus gardens serve as an external digestive system for the ants, with mutualistic fungi in the genus Leucoagaricus converting the plant substrate into energy for the ants. The fungus garden is host to specialized parasitic fungi in the genus Escovopsis. Here, we examine the potential role of Burkholderia spp. that occur within ant fungus gardens in inhibiting Escovopsis. We isolated members of the bacterial genera Burkholderia and Paraburkholderia from 50% of

SUBMITTER: Francoeur CB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8231715 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature