Evolutionary history of the symbiosis between fungus-growing ants and their fungi

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 266; no. 5191; pp. 1691 - 1694
• Main Authors: Chapela, I.H, Rehner, S.A, Schultz, T.R, Mueller, U.G
• 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: Agaricales; animal behavior; Ants; Attini; Basidiomycota; Biological and medical sciences; Biological taxonomies; Evolution; Formicidae; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fungi; Fungiculture; fungus gardens; genbank/u11890; genbank/u11891; genbank/u11892; genbank/u11893; genbank/u11894; genbank/u11895; genbank/u11896; genbank/u11897; genbank/u11898; genbank/u11899; genbank/u11900; genbank/u11901; genbank/u11902; genbank/u11903; genbank/u11904; genbank/u11905; genbank/u11906; genbank/u11907; genbank/u11908; genbank/u11909; genbank/u11910; genbank/u11911; genbank/u11912; genbank/u11913; genbank/u11914; genbank/u11915; genbank/u11916; genbank/u11917; genbank/u11918; genbank/u11919; Genetic aspects; Hymenoptera; Insect genetics; Insect morphology; Insects; Lepiota; lepiotaceae; Maximum Likelihood Statistics; Microbiology; molecular sequence data; Mycology; nucleotide sequences; nutrient sources; Parsimony; Pathogenicity, host-agent relations, miscellaneous strains, epidemiology; Phylogeny; ribosomal DNA; Sampling; symbionts; Symbiosis; Tribes; Fungi; Symbiosis; Formicidae; Arthropoda; Insecta; Biological evolution; Phylogeny; Hymenoptera; Invertebrata; Formicoidea; Aculeata; Thallophyta
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.266.5191.1691

The evolutionary history of the symbiosis between fungus-growing ants (Attini) and their fungi was elucidated by comparing phylogenies of both symbionts. The fungal phylogeny based on cladistic analyses of nuclear 28S ribosomal DNA indicates that, in contrast with the monophyly of the ants, the attine fungi are polyphyletic. Most cultivated fungi belong to the basidiomycete family Lepiotaceae; however, one ant genus, Apterostigma, has acquired a distantly related basidiomycete lineage. Phylogenetic patterns suggest that some primitive attines may have repeatedly acquired lepiotaceous symbionts. In contrast, the most derived attines have clonally propagated the same fungal lineage for at least 23 million years.