Ant-plants and fungi: a new threeway symbiosis
Ant-plants and fungi: a new threeway symbiosis
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.02793.x
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发表时间：
2009-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
9.4
通讯作者：
Blatrix, Rumsais
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Defossez, Emmanuel;Selosse, Marc-Andre;Blatrix, Rumsais
植物与真菌、真菌与蚂蚁、蚂蚁与植物的共生在生态系统中都扮演着重要的角色。涉及所有三个伙伴的共生现象似乎很罕见。在这里，我们描述了一种新的三方共生，其中蚂蚁和真菌栖息在蚂蚁植物的domatia中，并提供证据表明这种相互作用是广泛存在的。我们调查了139个非洲抗植物Leonardoxa africana的真菌发生情况。利用装有内窥镜的摄像机观察了共生蚁对domatia内真菌的行为。真菌是通过对其核糖体DNA片段进行测序来鉴定的。真菌总是存在于共生蚁占据的domatia中，而不存在于机会蚁或寄生蚁占据的domatia中。蚂蚁似乎有利于真菌的繁殖、清除和维持。类似的真菌与喀麦隆的其他抗植物真菌有关。均属于子囊菌目毛囊菌目；来自非洲L.的形成了一个单系分支。这些新的植物-抗真菌关联似乎是特异性的，正如在Leonardoxa中所证明的那样，也正如真菌种类鉴定所表明的那样。这种三方联系在非洲的植物蚁群中很普遍，但长期以来一直被忽视。考虑到真菌伙伴将极大地提高我们对共生植物相互作用的理解。
Symbioses between plants and fungi, fungi and ants, and ants and plants all play important roles in ecosystems. Symbioses involving all three partners appear to be rare. Here, we describe a novel tripartite symbiosis in which ants and a fungus inhabit domatia of an ant-plant, and present evidence that such interactions are widespread.We investigated 139 individuals of the African ant-plant Leonardoxa africana for occurrence of fungus. Behaviour of mutualist ants toward the fungus within domatia was observed using a video camera fitted with an endoscope. Fungi were identified by sequencing a fragment of their ribosomal DNA.Fungi were always present in domatia occupied by mutualist ants but never in domatia occupied by opportunistic or parasitic ants. Ants appear to favour the propagation, removal and maintenance of the fungus. Similar fungi were associated with other ant-plants in Cameroon. All belong to the ascomycete order Chaetothyriales; those from L. africana formed a monophyletic clade.These new plant-ant-fungus associations seem to be specific, as demonstrated within Leonardoxa and as suggested by fungal phyletic identities. Such tripartite associations are widespread in African ant-plants but have long been overlooked. Taking fungal partners into account will greatly enhance our understanding of symbiotic ant-plant mutualisms.