Trachymyrmex septentrionalis Ant Microbiome Assembly Is Unique to Individual Colonies and Castes.

ABSTRACT: Within social insect colonies, microbiomes often differ between castes due to their different functional roles and between colony locations. Trachymyrmex septentrionalis fungus-growing ants form colonies throughout the eastern United States and northern Mexico that include workers, female and male alates (unmated reproductive castes), larvae, and pupae. How T. septentrionalis microbiomes vary across this geographic range and between castes is unknown. Our sampling of individual ants from colonies across the eastern United States revealed a conserved T. septentrionalis worker ant microbiome and revealed that worker ant microbiomes are more conserved within colonies than between them. A deeper sampling of individual ants from two colonies that included all available castes (pup

SUBMITTER: Green EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9429924 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature