ERG11 sequencing of 28 Candida auris clade III isolates revealed the presence of concomitant V125A and F126L substitutions. Heterologous expression of Erg11-V125A/F126L in Saccharomyces cerevisiae led to reduced fluconazole and voriconazole susceptibilities. Generation of single substitution gene variants through site-directed mutagenesis uncovered that F126L primarily contributes to the elevated triazole MICs. A similar, yet diminished pattern of reduced susceptibility was observed with long-tailed triazoles posaconazole and itraconazole for V125A/F126L, F126L, Y132F, and K143R alleles.

Worker specialization extends the behavioral and ecological repertoire of ant colonies. Specialization may relate to colony defense, brood care, foraging, and, in some taxa, storage. Replete workers swell the crop and gaster to store liquid food, which can be accessed by other colony members through trophallaxis. This storage ability, known as repletism, has independently evolved across several ant lineages, but the temporal history of this trait has not yet been investigated. Here, we describe the first fossil replete in the extinct species Leptomyrmex neotropicus Baroni Urbani, 1980 preserved in Miocene-age Dominican amber. Together with new evidence of repletism in L. neotropicus' extant sister species, L. relictus Boudinot et al., 2016, we reconstruct the pattern of acquisition and descent in this storage-linked trait. Our ancestral state reconstruction suggests that Leptomyrmex acquired replete workers in the Eocene and may therefore represent the earliest instance of so-called honeypot ants among all known ants, both living and extinct.

ERG11 sequencing of 28 Candida auris clade III isolates revealed the presence of concomitant V125A and F126L substitutions. Heterologous expression of Erg11-V125A/F126L in Saccharomyces cerevisiae led to reduced fluconazole and voriconazole susceptibilities. Generation of single substitution gene variants through site-directed mutagenesis uncovered that F126L primarily contributes to the elevated triazole MICs. A similar, yet diminished pattern of reduced susceptibility was observed with long-tailed triazoles posaconazole and itraconazole for V125A/F126L, F126L, Y132F, and K143R alleles.