Herbivorous turtle ants obtain essential nutrients from a conserved nitrogen-recycling gut microbiome.
- Hu Y Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA. yh332@drexel.edu.
- Sanders JG Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
- Łukasik P Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
- D'Amelio CL Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
- Millar JS Department of Medicine, Institute of Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
- Vann DR Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
- Lan Y School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
- Newton JA Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
- Schotanus M Department of Biology, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, 49546, USA.
- Kronauer DJC Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
- Pierce NE Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
- Moreau CS Department of Science and Education, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA.
- Wertz JT Department of Biology, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, 49546, USA.
- Engel P Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
- Russell JA Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
- 2018-03-08
Published in:
- Nature communications. - 2018
Amino Acids
Ammonia
Animals
Ants
Diet
Gastrointestinal Microbiome
Geography
Herbivory
Metagenome
Metagenomics
Nitrogen
Nitrogen Fixation
Nitrogen Isotopes
Symbiosis
Urea
Urease
Uric Acid
English
Nitrogen acquisition is a major challenge for herbivorous animals, and the repeated origins of herbivory across the ants have raised expectations that nutritional symbionts have shaped their diversification. Direct evidence for N provisioning by internally housed symbionts is rare in animals; among the ants, it has been documented for just one lineage. In this study we dissect functional contributions by bacteria from a conserved, multi-partite gut symbiosis in herbivorous Cephalotes ants through in vivo experiments, metagenomics, and in vitro assays. Gut bacteria recycle urea, and likely uric acid, using recycled N to synthesize essential amino acids that are acquired by hosts in substantial quantities. Specialized core symbionts of 17 studied Cephalotes species encode the pathways directing these activities, and several recycle N in vitro. These findings point to a highly efficient N economy, and a nutritional mutualism preserved for millions of years through the derived behaviors and gut anatomy of Cephalotes ants.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- gold
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-03357-y
- PMID 29511180
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/20408
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