Phylogenetic research on the origin and evolution of agriculture in ants

第一只蚂蚁是一只狩猎采集的蚂蚁。但大约在5000万年前，一种蚂蚁物种发现了农业，并开始种植真菌花园作为食物。今天，超过230种“种真菌的蚂蚁”，都是从那个单一的蚂蚁开拓者进化而来的，它们与它们培育的真菌参与了复杂的共生。这些共生体还包括一种真菌“作物病”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，这项研究将专注于重建耕作蚂蚁和它们培育的真菌的共同进化史，揭示这一壮观生物系统的起源和进化。该项目将使一名博士后研究员、两名研究生和一些本科生实习生的教育和职业生涯受益。蚂蚁工作坊将培养中学生对科学的热情，博物馆展品和家庭节日将教育普通公众。由于蚂蚁农业已经成为研究共生和共同进化的模式系统，该项目的结果将使生物学家广泛受益。最后，这一结果可能对整个社会有益，因为种植真菌的蚂蚁为新兴的达尔文农业领域提供了一种罕见的非人类模式系统，旨在通过对自然系统的研究来改进人类的农业方法。

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.