Fungus-farming 'attine' ants
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ABSTRACT:
PROVIDER: PRJNA454746 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
Similar Datasets
Project description:Leaf-cutting ants of the genera Acromyrmex and Atta live in mutualistic symbiosis with a basidiomycete fungus (Leucocoprinus gongylophorus), which they cultivate as fungal gardens in underground nest chambers. The ants provide the fungus with a growth substrate consisting of freshly cut leaf fragments. After new leaf fragments are brought into the nest, the ants chew them into smaller pieces and apply droplets of fecal fluid to the leaf pulp before depositing this mixed substrate in the fungus garden and inoculating it with small tufts of mycelium from older parts of the garden. Previous work has shown that the fecal fluid contains a range of digestive enzymes including proteases, amylases, chitinases, cellulases, pectinases, hemicellulases and laccases, and that most of these enzymes are produced by the fungal symbiont in specialized structures called gongylidia that the ants eat. After ingestion, the enzymes apparently pass unharmed through the alimentary channel of the ants and end up in the fecal fluid. Most likely this complex system is an adaptation of the ant-fungus symbiosis to a herbivorous lifestyle, as the ancient ancestors of the ants and the fungus lived as hunter-gatherers and saprotrophs, respectively. The promise of fecal fluid for getting insight into the molecular adaptations that enables the ant-fungus holosymbiont to live as a herbivore, led us to investigate the fecal fluid proteome using LC-MS/MS in order to get a more comprehensive picture of the repertoire of proteins present.
2021-01-12 | PXD016395 | Pride
Project description:Leaf-cutter ants use fresh plant material to cultivate an obligate mutualistic fungus Leucoagaricus gongylophorus in specialized fungus gardens to access and transform nutrients from plant biomass that would otherwise be unavailable to the ants. Here, we evaluated the lipidomic differences between the leaves feeding the gardens, gongylidia produced by the fungus to feed the ants, and spatially-resolve regions of the fungus garden at initial to advanced stages of leaf degradation.
2019-10-30 | MSV000084520 | MassIVE
Project description:Mass spectrometry imaging is a powerful analytical technique for detecting and determining spatial distributions of molecules within a sample. Typically, mass spectrometry imaging is limited to the analysis of thin tissue sections taken from the middle of a sample. In this work, we present a mass spectrometry imaging method for the detection of compounds produced by bacteria on the outside surface of ant exoskeletons in response to pathogen exposure. Fungus-growing ants have a specialized mutualism with Pseudonocardia, a bacterium that lives on the ants’ exoskeletons and helps protect their fungal garden food source from harmful pathogens. The developed method allows for visualization of bacterial-derived compounds on the ant exoskeleton. This method demonstrates the capability to detect compounds that are specifically localized to the bacterial patch on ant exoskeletons, shows good reproducibility across individual ants, and achieves accurate mass measurements within 5 ppm error when using a high-resolution, accurate-mass mass spectrometer.
2018-07-26 | MTBLS471 | MetaboLights
Project description:Fungus-growing ants microbial interaction of Streptomyces sp. and Escovopsis sp. through molecular networking and MALDI imaging
2018-11-03 | MSV000083097 | MassIVE
Project description:The biting behavior observed in Carpenter ants infected by the specialized fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis s.l. is an example of a complex host behavioral manipulation by parasite. Though parasitic manipulation of host behavior is generally assumed to be due to the parasite’s gene expression, few studies have set out to test this. We experimentally infected Carpenter ants to collect tissue from both parasite and host during the time period when manipulated biting behavior is experienced. Upon observation of synchronized biting, samples were collected and subjected to RNA-Seq analyses. We also sequenced and annotated the O. unilateralis s.l. genome as a reference for the fungal reads. Our mixed transcriptomics approach, together with a comparative genomics study, shows that the majority of the fungal genes that are up-regulated during manipulated biting behavior are unique to the O. unilateralis s.l. genome. This study furthermore reveals that the fungal parasite might be regulating immune- and neuronal stress responses in the host during manipulated biting, as well as impairing its chemosensory communication and causing apoptosis. Moreover, we found genes up-regulated during manipulation that putatively encode for proteins with reported effects on behavioral outputs, proteins involved in various neuropathologies, and proteins involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites such as alkaloids.
2015-08-18 | GSE68176 | GEO
Project description:The transition to parasitism is a drastic shift in lifestyle, involving rapid changes in gene structure, function, and expression. Evolutionarily 'young' parasites are ideal models for the elucidation of the early steps of this transition. After the establishment of an antagonistic relationship, parasite and host co-evolve through reciprocal adaptations resulting in an evolutionary arms-race. Repeated evolution of social parasitism and slavery among Temnothorax ants allows us to examine gene expression patterns characterizing slavemaker raiding and reciprocal host defensive behavior. Previous studies of Temnothorax provide evidence for co-evolving adaptations between parasites and hosts, as well as diverging raiding strategies between slavemakers. However, under parasite pressure, host defense portfolios shift similarly, suggesting diverging evolution of defensive traits. Through comparative gene expression analyses, we find that slavemaker raiding behavior is characterized by a down-regulation of numerous genes relative to their non-raiding state. Moreover, only a small number of genes shared expression between slavemaking species. In contrast, hosts possess a higher ratio of commonly-to-privately over-expressed genes and metabolic pathways during raids, suggesting that genes of similar function control defensive behavior. Additionally, a number of candidate genes were identified, each potentially playing a major role in shaping slavemaker- and host-specific behaviors. Finally, in two slavemaking species, functional enrichment analyses indicate that genes over-expressed during raiding behavior are associated with ribosomal structure, oxidation-reduction, and metabolic processes. Overall, our analysis revealed evidence for divergent evolution among closely-related ant species, where species-specific gene expression characterize raiding and defensive behavior.
2017-07-01 | GSE95604 | GEO
Project description:Uncultured bacteria of fungus-growing ants guts (attines)
| PRJNA280270 | ENA
Project description:This SuperSeries is composed of the following subset Series: GSE22678: Transcriptome sequencing and analysis of two ants: Camponotus floridanus and Harpegnathos saltator GSE22679: Small RNA sequencing and analysis of two ants: Camponotus floridanus and Harpegnathos saltator Refer to individual Series
2010-08-26 | E-GEOD-22680 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Animal venoms are a rich source of novel biomolecules with tremendous potential in medicine and agriculture. Ants represent one of the most species-rich lineages of venomous animals. However, only a fraction of their biodiversity has been studied so far. Here, we investigated the venom compositions from Myrmica rubra and Myrmica ruginodis, two members of the Myrmicinae subfamily of ants. We applied a proteo-transcriptomics based venomics workflow. Our analysis revealed that venoms of both species are composed of several protein classes, such as venom serine protease, cysteine-rich secretory proteins, antigen 5 and pathogenesis-related 1 proteins (CAP), Kunitz-type serine protease inhibitors or venom acid phosphatase. Several protein classes identified are known venom allergens, and for the first time we detected phospholipase A1 in the venom of M. ruginodis. We also identified two novel toxins of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family in its venom proteome and an array of additional EGF-like toxins in venom gland transcriptomes of both species. They display similarity to known toxins from the related myrmecine Manica rubida and the Australian red bulldog ant Myrmecia gullosa of the Myrmeciinae subfamily and may serve as nociceptive weapons in defensive scenarios. Our work suggests that the venoms of M. rubra and M. ruginodis contain many high molecular proteins and enzymes with putatively cell damaging functions. Nevertheless, the presence of EGF-like toxins underpins that myrmicine ants also recruited smaller peptide components into their venom arsenal. Although little is known about the bioactivity and function of these EGF-like toxins, their presence in Myrmecinae and Myrmeciinae suggests that they play an important role for the venom systems of Formicoidea. Our work adds to the emerging picture of ant venoms as a source for novel biomolecules. This underlines the importance to incorporate such taxa in future venom bioprospecting programs.
2022-06-09 | PXD033537 | Pride
Project description:Deep BS-Seq of two Ants: Camponotus floridanus and Harpegnathos saltator.
2012-08-09 | GSE31576 | GEO