Ants in the tribe Attini(Hymenoptera,Formicidae)maintain a 50 million-year-old lifestyle of co-evolution with symbiotic basidiomycetous fungi which they cultivate as essential source of nutrition.However,other microor...Ants in the tribe Attini(Hymenoptera,Formicidae)maintain a 50 million-year-old lifestyle of co-evolution with symbiotic basidiomycetous fungi which they cultivate as essential source of nutrition.However,other microorganisms have been reported from ant habitats indicating a higher diversity of consistently associated species than established to date.Recently,black yeast-like fungi have been reported as a possible symbiont,like a competitor of the actinomycete bacteria that grow in the integument of the insects.During the mating season,gynes of Atta capiguara and A.laevigata were collected from nests located in Botucatu,SP,Brazil and sampled using flotation technique.Phylogenetic analysis based on ITS,partial 28S(LSU)andβ-tubulin sequences revealed the occurrence of two novel species of Phialophora among the melanized fungi isolated.展开更多
基金The authors would like to thank D.Smith and G.Omer for technical support with DNA purification,PCR and sequencing.Laboratory work at the CBS was financed by the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Science(KNAW)the Fonds voor Economische Stuctuurversterking(FES)with the grant‘Barcoding the CBS collections’.Laboratory work at UNESP was financed by CNPq(proc.305.457/2001-0 and 560.682/2010-7).
文摘Ants in the tribe Attini(Hymenoptera,Formicidae)maintain a 50 million-year-old lifestyle of co-evolution with symbiotic basidiomycetous fungi which they cultivate as essential source of nutrition.However,other microorganisms have been reported from ant habitats indicating a higher diversity of consistently associated species than established to date.Recently,black yeast-like fungi have been reported as a possible symbiont,like a competitor of the actinomycete bacteria that grow in the integument of the insects.During the mating season,gynes of Atta capiguara and A.laevigata were collected from nests located in Botucatu,SP,Brazil and sampled using flotation technique.Phylogenetic analysis based on ITS,partial 28S(LSU)andβ-tubulin sequences revealed the occurrence of two novel species of Phialophora among the melanized fungi isolated.
