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Abstract
We recently published a paper titled “A mixed community of actinomycetes produce multiple antibiotics for the fungus farming ant Acromyrmex octospinosus” showing that attine ants use multidrug therapy to maintain their fungal cultivars. This paper tested two theories that have been put forward to explain how attine ants establish mutualism with actinomycete symbionts: environmental acquisition versus co-evolution. We found good evidence for environmental acquisition, in agreement with other recent studies. We also found evidence that supports (but does not prove) co-evolution. Here we place the environmental acquisition and co-evolution arguments within the framework of general mutualism theory and discuss how this system provides insights into the mechanisms that assemble microbiomes. We conclude by discussing future directions for research into the attine ant-actinomycete mutualism.
Acknowledgements
We thank Ulrich Mueller for a very helpful email exchange. This work was supported by a University of East Anglia funded Ph.D. studentship (J.B.) and a Medical Research Council Milstein award, G0801721 (M.I.H. and D.Y.). M.I.H. is a Research Councils UK Academic Fellow and also acknowledges support from the University of East Anglia, the Royal Society and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. D.Y. received support from EUR°CORES/TECT programme, the Yunnan provincial government (20080A001) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (0902281081).
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