Phylogeny of the attine ant fungi based on analysis of small subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequences

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 266; no. 5191; pp. 1695 - 1697
• Main Authors: Hinkle, Gregory, Wetterer, James K., Schultz, Ted R., Sogin, Mitchell L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 09-12-1994; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: adn; agaricales; Agaricales - classification; Agaricales - genetics; Agaricales - physiology; Agaricus; Agaricus - classification; Agaricus - genetics; agaricus bisporus; Animals; Ants; Ants - classification; Ants - microbiology; Ants - physiology; atta cephalotes; Attini; basidiomycotina; behaviour; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Evolution; Coding; comportamiento; comportement; dna; Evolution; filogenia; Formicidae; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fungi; Genera; Genes, Fungal; Hymenoptera; Insect genetics; Insect morphology; Insect pests; Insects; lepiota; Maximum Likelihood Statistics; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Mycology; nucleotide sequence; nutrientes; nutrients; Pathogenicity, host-agent relations, miscellaneous strains, epidemiology; Phylogenetics; phylogenie; Phylogeny; Ribonucleic acid; ribosomas; ribosome; ribosomes; RNA; RNA, Fungal - genetics; RNA, Ribosomal - genetics; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; secuencia nucleica; sequence nucleique; simbiontes; simbiosis; substance nutritive; Symbionts; symbiose; Symbiosis; symbiote; Tribes; Symbiosis; Formicidae; Nucleotide sequence; Insecta; Biological evolution; Phylogeny; Formicoidea; Fungi; Ribosomal RNA; Arthropoda; Morphology; Hymenoptera; Invertebrata; Aculeata; Thallophyta
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.7992052

Complete 16S-like ribosomal RNA coding regions were obtained from the fungal symbiont of five genera of attine (leaf-cutting) ants and two free-living fungi. Phylogenetic analyses with distance matrix, maximum likelihood, and parsimony methods revealed that the attine fungal symbionts are homobasidiomycetes in the order Agaricales. Comparison of the topology of the attine fungal symbiont phylogenetic tree with a tree based on attine ant morphology revealed a congruent branching pattern of the more derived attine ants and their fungal symbionts. The parallel branching pattern suggests a long-term coevolution of derived leaf-cutting attine ants and their fungal symbionts.