Convergent evolution of a labile nutritional symbiosis in ants.

Autor: Jackson R; School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK., Monnin D; School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK., Patapiou PA; School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK.; Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, AL9 7TA, UK., Golding G; School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK., Helanterä H; Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, 90014, Finland.; Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki, Hanko, Finland., Oettler J; Zoology/Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, 93040, Germany., Heinze J; Zoology/Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, 93040, Germany., Wurm Y; School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK.; Alan Turing Institute, London, NW1 2DB, UK., Economou CK; School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK., Chapuisat M; Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland., Henry LM; School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK. l.henry@qmul.ac.uk.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The ISME journal [ISME J] 2022 Sep; Vol. 16 (9), pp. 2114-2122. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Jun 14.
DOI: 10.1038/s41396-022-01256-1
Abstrakt: Ants are among the most successful organisms on Earth. It has been suggested that forming symbioses with nutrient-supplementing microbes may have contributed to their success, by allowing ants to invade otherwise inaccessible niches. However, it is unclear whether ants have evolved symbioses repeatedly to overcome the same nutrient limitations. Here, we address this question by comparing the independently evolved symbioses in Camponotus, Plagiolepis, Formica and Cardiocondyla ants. Our analysis reveals the only metabolic function consistently retained in all of the symbiont genomes is the capacity to synthesise tyrosine. We also show that in certain multi-queen lineages that have co-diversified with their symbiont for millions of years, only a fraction of queens carry the symbiont, suggesting ants differ in their colony-level reliance on symbiont-derived resources. Our results imply that symbioses can arise to solve common problems, but hosts may differ in their dependence on symbionts, highlighting the evolutionary forces influencing the persistence of long-term endosymbiotic mutualisms.
(© 2022. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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