Leaf-Cutter Ants Ally Opportunistically with Actinomycetes

WHILE THE ATTINE ants are not well-studied, I posted this week about a study into their evolution that revealed the history of innovations in their cultivation of fungus. The attine ants are part of a symbiotic network between the ants, their fungal cultivars, the parasitic fungus Escovopus, and actinomycete bacteria that serve to suppress this parasite. These bacteria are members of Pseudonocardia and grow in filamentous mycelia on the insects’ integument, where the ants have evolved cuticular crypts to house the bacteria and glandular secretions that support their growth.

The actinomycetes are an order of bacteria that are know to produce a wide range of biologically active molecules, many of which are active against other bacteria and against fungi. Some of these natural products are now used clinically, such as the antibacterial antibiotics streptomycin, erythromycin, and tetracycline, anticancer drugs daunorubicin and doxorubicin, and antifungal drugs amphotericin B and natamycin. Actinomycetes inhabit a variety of environments, but many are ubiquitous soil bacteria.

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