Medina-Rivera, Mariely

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    Interaction between the fungus-growing ant Cyphomyrmex minutus and its symbionts at Cambalache Forest, Puerto Rico
    (2012) Medina-Rivera, Mariely; Cafaro, Matías J.; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Montalvo Rodríguez, Rafael; Rodríguez-Minguela, Carlos; Department of Biology; Beaver, Linda
    The ants in the tribe Attini cultivate a fungus (Basidiomycota: Agaricales) as food and protect it from specific mycoparasites, Escovopsis (Ascomycota: Hypocreales), using the antibiotic production capacity of Actinobacteria (Pseudonocardia) associated with its exoskeleton. Attini nests are not axenic environments; several other microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) with undescribed roles interact with the ant and the principal symbionts. In addition, the ants show characteristic hygienic behaviors that include farming and grooming of the cultivar and creating, rearranging, and transporting piles of organic refused material in and out of the nest. Currently, 5 different agricultural practices have been described among the Attini and only the members of the Cyphomyrmex rimosus group maintain their cultivar in yeast form. All other groups of the Attini cultivate their fungi in mycelial form. Although the interaction in the attine ant symbiosis has been extensively studied, the yeast-cultivating ants and their microbial associates have not been described. In Puerto Rico, Cyphomyrmex minutus is the only attine species that practices yeast agriculture. We investigated the microbial community associated with C. minutus including the specific cultivar, the possible mycoparasite and the Actinobacteria. We sampled a total of 26 nests of C. minutus during the Dry and Rainy seasons at Cambalache Tropical Forest in Puerto Rico. A combination of culture-dependent and independent techniques was used to describe the fungi and Actinobacteria isolated from different components of the nest. We identified the yeast cultivar by sequencing the 28S rDNA gene. We also isolated and identified the fungi associated with the cultivar using morphology and ribosomal operon ITS sequencing. Furthermore, we created a clone library of the fungal ITS region from the organic refuse material in search of pathogens. Actinobacteria genera from the ant exoskeleton and the cultivar were analyzed using 16S rDNA gene. The microbial community associated with C. minutus differs significantly from other attine ants. The specific pathogen, Escovopsis, was not found in association with the cultivar nor the refuse material. Pseudonocardia was not the prevalent actinobacterium genus in the association, but instead Streptomyces strains were commonly recovered. Our studies strongly support the hypothesis that the ant maintains the cultivar in yeast form as an adaptation to escape pathogen infection.