Phylogenetic research on the origin and evolution of agriculture in ants

第一只蚂蚁是狩猎采集者。 但大约5000万年前，一种蚂蚁发现了农业，并开始种植真菌花园作为食物。 今天，超过230种的“真菌养殖蚂蚁”，都是这一单一蚂蚁先驱的后代，与他们培养的真菌形成了复杂的共生关系。 这些共生体还包括一种真菌“作物疾病”和产生对蚂蚁有用的抗生素的细菌。 利用DNA序列数据和计算机算法，这项研究将侧重于重建农业蚂蚁和它们培养的真菌的共同进化历史，揭示这个壮观的生物系统的起源和进化。该项目将有利于一名博士后研究员，两名研究生和一些本科实习生的教育和职业生涯。 蚂蚁讲习班将培养中学生和高中生对科学的热情，博物馆展览和家庭节日将教育公众。 由于蚂蚁农业已成为研究共生和共同进化的模型系统，该项目的结果将使广泛的生物学家受益。 最后，研究结果可以造福社会，因为真菌蚂蚁为新兴的“达尔文农业”领域提供了一个罕见的非人类模型系统，旨在通过研究自然系统来改善人类的农业方法。

The first ant was a hunter-gatherer. But around 50 million years ago, one ant species discovered agriculture and began cultivating fungus gardens for food. Today over 230 species of 'fungus-farming ants', all descended from that single ant pioneer, participate in intricate symbioses with their cultivated fungi. These symbioses also include a fungal 'crop disease' and bacteria that produce antibiotics useful to the ants. Using DNA sequence data and computer algorithms, this research will focus on reconstructing the shared evolutionary histories of the farming ants and the fungi that they cultivate, shedding light on the origin and evolution of this spectacular biological system. The project will benefit the education and career of one postdoctoral researcher, two graduate students, and a number of undergraduate interns. Ant workshops will foster enthusiasm for science in secondary and high-school students and museum exhibits and family festivals will educate the general public. Because ant agriculture has become a model system for the study of symbiosis and coevolution, the results of this project will benefit a wide range of biologists. Finally, the results could benefit society in general because fungus-growing ants provide a rare non-human model system for the emerging field of 'Darwinian agriculture', aimed at improving human agricultural methods through the study of natural systems.