Ant-fungus mutualism 3374279 215496731 2008-05-28T13:34:21Z DOI bot 6652755 Citation maintenance. You can [[WP:DOI|use this bot]] yourself! Please [[User:DOI_bot/bugs|report any bugs]]. {{Mergeto|fungus-growing ants|date=September 2007}} '''Ant-fungus mutualism''' is a [[symbiosis]] seen in certain [[ant]] and [[fungus|fungal]] species, where ants actively cultivate fungus much like humans farm [[agriculture|crop]]s as a food source. Interestingly, in some species, the ants and fungi are dependent on each other for survival. The [[leafcutter ant]] is a well known example of this symbiosis.<ref>{{cite book |author=B. Hölldobler & E.O. Wilson |year=1990 |title=The Ants |location=Cambridge MA |publisher=Belknap }}</ref> A mutualism with fungi is also noted in some species of [[termite]]s in [[Africa]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Dawkins|first=Richard|authorlink=Richard Dawkins|title=[[The Selfish Gene]]|origyear=1976|edition=2nd edition|year=1989|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford| id=ISBN 0-19-286092-5, {{LCC|QH437.D38}}|pages=180|chapter=You scratch my back, I'll ride yours|quote=For example, several species of ants in the New World, and, quite independently, termites in Africa, cultivate 'fungus gardens'.}}</ref> ==General overview== This [[mutualism]] is thought to have originated in the basin of the [[Amazon rainforest]] some 50–65 million years ago. The [[attini|attine]] ants actively propagate, nurture and defend the [[basidiomycete]] cultivar.<ref name=chapela>{{cite journal |author=I.H. Chapela, S.A. Rehner, T.R. Schultz & U.G. Mueller |month=9 Dec., |year=1994 |title=Evolutionary history of the symbiosis between fungus-growing ants and their fungi |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=266 |issue=5191 |pages=1691–1694 |doi=10.1126/science.266.5191.1691 }}</ref> In return, the fungus provides nutrients for the ants, which may accumulate in specialized [[hypha]]l-tips known as ''gongylidia''. In some advanced [[genus|genera]] the [[queen ant]] may take a pellet of the fungus with her when she leaves to start a new colony.<ref>{{cite journal |author=N. Weber |year=1966 |title=Gardening Ants: The Attines |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=153 |issue=1966 |pages=584 }}</ref> This mutualism is further complicated by the introduction of two other factors, a fungal parasite ''[[Escovopsis]]'' and a bacterial species residing on the ants' integuments that assists in defending the fungus from this parasite through the production of [[secondary metabolites]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Cameron R. Currie, Bess Wong, Alison E. Stuart, Ted R. Schultz, Stephen A. Rehner, Ulrich G. Mueller, Gi-Ho Sung, Joseph W. Spatafora, and Neil A. Straus |year=2003 |title=Ancient Tripartite Coevolution in the Attine Ant-Microbe Symbiosis |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=299 |issue=5605 |pages=386 }}</ref> Whereas the ants are [[monophyletic]], their symbionts are not. They fall roughly into three major groups, only G1 having [[evolved]] gongylidia. Some G2 species grow long hyphae that form a protective cover over the nest. Those in G3 are [[paraphyletic]], the most heteregenous, and form the most loose relationships with their cultivators.<ref name=chapela/> Studies now show that the fungi themselves may not be completely dependent on the ants. The fungi were earlier thought to be propagated by ants purely through clonal (vegetative) means. However considerable genetic variation in the fungi suggests that this may not be the case.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Mikheyev, S., U.G. Mueller, P. Abbott |year=2006 |title=Cryptic sex and many-to-one co-evolution in the fungus-growing ant symbiosis |journal=[[Proc. Natl Acad. Sci.]] |volume=103 |pages=10702–10706 |url=http://www.biosci.utexas.edu/IB/faculty/mueller/pubs/mikheyev_PNAS06.pdf |doi=10.1073/pnas.0601441103 }}</ref> ==References== <div class="references-small"> <references/> </div> ==External links== *[http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5757/81 Coevolved Crypts and Exocrine Glands Support Mutualistic Bacteria in Fungus-Growing Ants] [[Category:Ants]] [[Category:Mycology]] [[Category:Symbiosis]] [[Category:Insect ecology]] {{ant-stub}} {{fungus-stub}} {{ecology-stub}}