Weeding and grooming of pathogens in agriculture by ants
Weeding and grooming of pathogens in agriculture by ants
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2001.1605
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发表时间：
2001-05-22
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Stuart, AE
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Currie, CR;Stuart, AE
真菌蚂蚁和它们所培育的真菌之间的古老互惠关系是共生的教科书范例。真菌生长蚂蚁培养真菌的能力取决于保护花园免受与添加到花园中的基质相关的侵略性微生物以及专门的致命花园寄生虫Escovopsis的侵害。Mie通过用通用病原体绿色木霉和专用病原体Escovopsis感染Atta colombica gardens来检查蚂蚁物理去除外来微生物的能力。蚂蚁通过两种主要行为来净化花园：从花园中梳理外来孢子（真菌梳理）和清除受感染的花园基质（除草）。与先前描述的卫生行为（例如舔和自我梳理）不同，真菌梳理和花园清除行为是对真菌病原体存在的特异性反应。在病原体存在的情况下，它们是工人进行的主要活动，但它们在未感染的花园中并不常见。事实上，工人通过真菌梳理和除草迅速从花园中消除木霉，这表明这些行为是花园防御一般病原体的主要方法。同样的卫生行为是为了应对专业病原体Escovopsis的存在。然而，这些行为的强度和持续时间在这种治疗中要大得多。尽管付出了更大的努力，蚂蚁还是无法将Escovopsis从它们的花园中消灭，这表明这种专门的病原体已经进化出了反适应性，以克服蚂蚁的卫生防御。
The ancient mutualism between fungus-growing ants and the fungi they cultivate for food is a textbook example of symbiosis. Fungus-growing ants' ability to cultivate fungi depends on protection of the garden from the aggressive microbes associated with the substrate added to the garden as well as from the specialized virulent garden parasite Escovopsis. Mie examined ants' ability to remove alien microbes physically by infecting Atta colombica gardens with the generalist pathogen Trichoderma viride and the specialist pathogen Escovopsis. The ants sanitized the garden using two main behaviours: grooming of alien spores from the garden (fungus grooming) and removal of infected garden substrate (weeding). Unlike previously described hygienic behaviours (e.g. licking and self-grooming), fungus-grooming and garden-removal behaviours are specific responses to the presence of fungal pathogens. In the presence of pathogens, they are the primary activities performed by workers, but they are uncommon in uninfected gardens. In fact, workers rapidly eliminate Trichoderma from their gardens by fungus grooming and weeding, suggesting that these behaviours are the primary method of garden defence against generalist pathogens. The same sanitary behaviours were performed in response to the presence of the specialist pathogen Escovopsis. However, the intensity and duration of these behaviours were much greater in this treatment. Despite the increased effort, the ants were unable to eliminate Escovopsis from their gardens, suggesting that this specialized pathogen has evolved counter-adaptations in order to overcome the sanitary defences of the ants.