Growth and Conidiation Response of Escovopsis weberi (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) Against the Fungal Cultivar of &lt;I&gt;Acromyrmex lundii&lt;/I&gt; (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Folgarait, Patricia J.; Marfetán, Jorge A.; Cafaro, Matías J.

doi:10.1603/en10111

Cited by 23 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…and E. nivea inhibited the growth of L. gongylophorus. These results indicate the production of compounds by both fungi providing evidences for a chemical action of Escovopsis as proposed by Currie et al (2003), Reynolds and Currie (2004) and Folgarait et al (2011b), and hitherto demonstrate the chemical action of E. nivea. However, the extracts alone were not able to kill the mutualistic fungus, showing the need for a combined action of chemical and physical mechanisms for the establishment of mycoparasitism.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

“…The fact that all Escovopsis spp. isolates have not grown on the control plate, but have grown into the mutualistic fungus is explained by the Escovopsis being attracted by chemical signals secreted by the mutualistic fungus, supporting the hypothesis of specificity of this interaction (Gerardo et al 2004(Gerardo et al , 2006Folgarait et al 2011b). This was particularly observed in the SEM preparations, in which Escovopsis did not exibit radial growth, but grew direct towards the mutualistic fungus, forming a bridge between the fungi.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…Differences were found in virulence of Escovopsis isolates, as reflected by the different percentage of inhibition between isolates ranging from 56 to 78%, as well as the morphological changes (staining of the medium and degeneration of the mutualistic fungal mycelium) (Silva et al 2006). In tests carried out by Folgarait et al (2011a), significant differences in inhibition of the mutualistic fungus depending on the Escovopsis strain evaluated were also detected. The authors attribute the observed results to the fact that strains were isolated from different ant species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…This work was pioneering, as it showed the pathogenicity of Escovopsis in leaf-cutter ant colonies. From this study, several research perspectives were opened to understand the biology of this parasite and its use as potential biological control agent for leaf-cutter ants (Reynolds and Currie 2004;Gerardo et al 2004Gerardo et al , 2006Silva et al 2006;Folgarait et al 2011a;Elizondo-Wallace et al 2014;Marfetán et al 2015;Man et al 2016). In addition, Escovopsioides fungi have similar characteristics to those of Escovopsis and are also found in the fungus gardens of leaf-cutter ants and other genera of attine ants (Augustin et al 2013;Reis et al 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nature of the interactions between hypocrealean fungi and the mutualistic fungus of leaf-cutter ants

Varanda-Haifig

Albarici

Nunes

et al. 2016

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

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Leaf-cutter ants cultivate and feed on the mutualistic fungus, Leucoagaricus gongylophorus, which is threatened by parasitic fungi of the genus Escovopsis. The mechanism of Escovopsis parasitism is poorly understood. Here, we assessed the nature of the antagonism of different Escovopsis species against its host. We also evaluated the potential antagonism of Escovopsioides, a recently described fungal genus from the attine ant environment whose role in the colonies of these insects is unknown. We performed dual-culture assays to assess the interactions between L. gongylophorus and both fungi. We also evaluated the antifungal activity of compounds secreted by the latter on L. gongylophorus growth using crude extracts of Escovopsis spp. and Escovopsioides nivea obtained either in (1) absence or (2) presence of the mutualistic fungus. The physical interaction between these fungi and the mutualistic fungus was examined under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Escovopsis spp. and E. nivea negatively affected the growth of L. gongylophorus, which was also significantly inhibited by both types of crude extract. These results indicate that Escovopsis spp. and E. nivea produce antifungal metabolites against the mutualistic fungus. SEM showed that Escovopsis spp. and E. nivea maintained physical contact with the mutualistic fungus, though no specialised structures related to mycoparasitism were observed. These results showed that Escovopsis is a destructive mycoparasite that needs physical contact for the death of the mutualistic fungus to occur. Also, our findings suggest that E. nivea is an antagonist of the ant fungal cultivar.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nature of the interactions between hypocrealean fungi and the mutualistic fungus of leaf-cutter ants

Varanda-Haifig

Albarici

Nunes

et al. 2016

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

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“…New queens vertically transmit the symbiotic fungus from parent to offspring colonies (Höldobler and Wilson 1990;Currie et al 1999 [449][450][451][452][453][454][455][456][457][458][459][460][461] All Attini fungal cultivars are asexual members of the Agaricales (Basidiomycota) (Singer 1986). Leaf-cutting ants cultivate species of Leucoagaricus such as L. gongylophorus and L. weberi, as well as other undefined morphotypes in the same genus (Singer 1986;Muchovej et al 1991;Folgarait et al 2011;Marfetán 2011;Lugo et al 2013). …”

Section: I��mentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversidad de micobiota en diferentes especies de hormigas cortadoras de hojas y sitios de Argentina

Marfetán

Folgarait

2017

Ecol. Austral

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A��. A�ine ants are a monophyletic group comprising more than 230 species, distributed exclusively in the New World. All higher A�ini ants depend on the cultivation of fungus gardens for food, and those gardens are continuously exposed to alien microorganisms. The present work describes, for the first time, the composition, relative frequency and the richness of the fungal species comprising the mycobiota from the garden of the most abundant Acromyrmex species from different regions of Argentina. We also compared, using a multivariate approach, the mycobiota composition with the purpose of testing two hypotheses: 1) whether mycobiota is defined by the ant species, or 2) whether mycobiota is determined by the geographical region. We found that each fungal community had a particular composition and abundance: the species that were highly frequent in a community or site, could be rare or altogether absent in another community or site. Species richness, as well as the theoretical maximum richness, also changed with locations. Furthermore, we found that different ant species at the same site had similar mycobiotas, whereas the same ant species in distant locations had only a few fungal species in common. Therefore, we concluded that mycobiota composition changed considerably with geographical site and was not dependent on the ant species. Our results provide an additional understanding of the leaf cu�ing-ants system, confirming that the garden of leaf cu�ing ants nests is a complex and dynamic fungal community which is dependent on the site where it was located.[Keywords: abundance, Acromyrmex, Ascomycota, fungal communities, richness, Zygomycetes] R��. Diversidad de micobiota en diferentes especies de hormigas cortadoras de hojas y sitios de Argentina. Las hormigas de la familia A�ini son un grupo monofilético que incluye más de 230 especies distribuidas exclusivamente en el Nuevo Mundo. Todas las hormigas A�ini superiores se alimentan de un hongo que cultivan dentro de sus nidos, y los cultivos de este hongo se encuentran continuamente expuestos a microorganismos exógenos a la colonia. Este trabajo describe por primera vez la composición, la frecuencia relativa y la riqueza de las especies que conforman las micobiotas encontrada en los jardines de las especies del género Acromyrmex más abundantes en diferentes regiones de la Argentina. También comparamos, mediante métodos multivariados, la composición de la micobiota con el propósito de poner a prueba dos hipótesis: 1) la micobiota está definida por las especies de hormigas, o 2) la micobiota cambia en función de la región geográfica. Se pudo observar que cada comunidad fúngica tuvo una composición y una abundancia de especies particular; las especies más frecuentes en un sitio o comunidad fue una especie rara o poco frecuente en otra comunidad o sitio. La riqueza de especies y la riqueza máxima teórica también cambiaron con los sitios. Además, encontramos que diferentes especies de hormigas en el mismo sitio tuvieron micobiotas similares, mientras que las...

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The role of chemical signalling in maintenance of the fungus garden by leaf-cutting ants

Green

Kooij

2018

Chemoecology

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Growth and Conidiation Response of Escovopsis weberi (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) Against the Fungal Cultivar of <I>Acromyrmex lundii</I> (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Cited by 23 publications

References 40 publications

Nature of the interactions between hypocrealean fungi and the mutualistic fungus of leaf-cutter ants

Nature of the interactions between hypocrealean fungi and the mutualistic fungus of leaf-cutter ants

Diversidad de micobiota en diferentes especies de hormigas cortadoras de hojas y sitios de Argentina

The role of chemical signalling in maintenance of the fungus garden by leaf-cutting ants

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