Chance or Necessity—The Fungi Co−Occurring with Formica polyctena Ants

Abstract

Studies on carton nesting ants and domatia−dwelling ants have shown that ant–fungi interactions may be much more common and widespread than previously thought. Until now, studies focused predominantly on parasitic and mutualistic fungi–ant interactions occurring mostly in the tropics, neglecting less−obvious interactions involving the fungi common in ants’ surroundings in temperate climates. In our study, we characterized the mycobiota of the surroundings of Formica polyctena ants by identifying nearly 600 fungal colonies that were isolated externally from the bodies of F. polyctena workers. The ants were collected from mounds found in northern and central Poland. Isolated fungi were assigned to 20 genera via molecular identification (ITS rDNA barcoding). Among these, Penicillium strains were the most frequent, belonging to eight different taxonomic sections. Other common and widespread members of Eurotiales, such as Aspergillus spp., were isolated very rarely. In our study, we managed to characterize the genera of fungi commonly present on F. polyctena workers. Our results suggest that Penicillium, Trichoderma, Mucor, Schwanniomyces and Entomortierella are commonly present in F. polyctena surroundings. Additionally, the high diversity and high frequency of Penicillium colonies isolated from ants in this study suggest that representatives of this genus may be adapted to survive in ant nests environment better than the other fungal groups, or that they are preferentially sustained by the insects in nests.

Unique antimicrobial activity in honey from the Australian honeypot ant (Camponotus inflatus)

“…It is not known if Neocelosporium is associated with leaves of the mulga tree or with other plants likely to be in the vicinity of honeypot ant nests, or if it plays a role in the biology or nutrition of Camponotus , and these would be interesting areas for further study. The five remaining genera identified in the fungal microbiome all also have environmental niches in plants, water, and/or the soil suggesting that the honeypot ant fungal microbiome is largely obtained from foraging and environmental exposure ( Bizarria, Pagnocca & Rodrigues, 2022 ; Flakus et al, 2019 ; Siedlecki et al, 2021 ; Tsuneda et al, 2008 ). Unsurprisingly, the microbiome of HPAH was largely sterile and did not contain any yeasts.…”

Fungal Biostarter Effect on the Quality of Dry-Aged Beef

“…It was highlighted that meat tenderized with M. flavus has higher amounts of functional sweet-, savory-, and umami-tasting amino acids. Additionally, M. flavus is a fungus which naturally occurs on aged meat [ 14 , 27 , 50 ].…”

“…Total genomic DNA was extracted from pure fungal culture on 4% SDA medium using DNA extraction kit EM13 (Blirt S.A., Gdańsk, Poland) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) fragment was amplified and sequenced as described by Siedlecki et al [ 27 ]. Received sequences were compared with reference sequences deposited in GenBank database ( ).…”

Effects on Brood Development in the Carpenter Ant Camponotus vicinus Mayr after Exposure to the Yeast Associate Schwanniomyces polymorphus Kloecker

“…Stingless bees have been shown to require sterols produced by a yeast associate to develop [33]. Schwanniomyces polymophus has been found associated with other ants and has also been shown to reduce complex oligosaccharides to simple sugars [20,62]. Fire ants have been reported to obtain ergosterol from associated yeast species [21].…”

“…(formerly Debaryomyces spp.) associated with the Formica rufa L., Formica aquilonia Yarrow, and Formica polyctena Foerst [16][17][18][19][20]. The relationship between Formica and this yeast remains unknown, but it was highlighted by these studies since the yeasts were found only in active ant colonies.…”