Collaborative Research: Dimensions US-Sao Paulo: Integrating phylogeny, genetics, and chemical ecology to unravel the tangled bank of the multipartite fungus-farming ant symbiosis

生物多样性是许多重要食品、药品和其他对人类福祉至关重要的产品的来源。然而，大量的生物多样性仍然隐藏在人们的视线中。我们对生物多样性如何起源、持续和应对不断变化的环境只有肤浅的了解。许多物种相互关联，这使得对生物多样性的理解变得复杂。这项研究研究了这种相互联系，特别是个体有机体之间的相互作用。这项研究的重点是一群热带蚂蚁和它们在巢中培养的真菌。这包括245种蚂蚁、它们培育的真菌和其他微生物。其目标是揭示蚂蚁-真菌共生体系中隐藏的生物多样性。这项研究的发现将揭示新的多样性，特别是由隐藏的相互作用产生的多样性。这些发现还可能被开发成造福人类社会的新技术和药物。该项目将培养新一代生物多样性科学家作为学生。该项目将加强与巴西的国际科学合作，以应对全球挑战。最后，公众将通过利用自然历史博物馆的创新通信参与进来。该项目将在巴西各地广泛采集切叶蚁和巢穴的样本。这些样本将专注于预计存在隐藏多样性的有机体群体。这包括栽培的真菌，攻击这些真菌的寄生虫，以及在花园防御中起作用的细菌。将对所有这些样本进行系统发育和分类多样性评估。然后，将应用一种耦合的综合基因表达和自然产物图谱方法。这将允许对遗传多样性以及蚂蚁花园微生物群的功能进行表征。最后，该项目将在天然产品研究中使用尖端技术。功能方面包括表征和理解用于发出信号、伤害、帮助和与各种相互作用的有机体相互作用的化合物。这个项目得益于美国-巴西调查团队的广泛专业知识，他们的研究涵盖昆虫和真菌分类学、系统发育学、基因组学和天然产品化学。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Biodiversity is the source of many important foods, medicines, and other products essential to human well-being. Yet, a great deal of biodiversity remains hidden from view. We only have a superficial understanding of how biodiversity originates, persists, and responds to a changing environment. Many species are interconnected, which makes biodiversity complex to understand. This research studies this interconnectedness, especially the interactions between individual organisms. This research focuses on a group of tropical ants and the fungus that they cultivate in their nests. This includes 245 species of ants, their cultivated fungi, and other microbial organisms. The goal is to uncover the hidden diversity of organisms within the ant-fungus symbiosis. Discoveries from this research will reveal new diversity, especially diversity arising from hidden interactions. These discoveries will also potentially be developed into new technologies and medicines that benefit human society. This project will train a new generation of biodiversity scientists as students. The project will enhance international scientific collaboration with Brazil to tackle global challenges. Finally, the general public will be engaged through innovative communications making use of natural history museums.The project will sample leafcutter ants and nests widely across Brazil. These samples will focus on groups of organisms where hidden diversity is expected. This includes the cultivated fungi, parasites that attack these fungi, and bacteria that function in garden defense. Both phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity will be assessed for all these samples. Then a coupled comprehensive gene expression and natural product profiling approach will be applied. This will allow the characterization of genetic diversity as well as the functions of the ants' garden microbiomes. Finally, the project will use cutting-edge techniques in natural products research. The functional aspect involves characterizing and understanding the chemical compounds used to signal, harm, help, and interact with the various interacting organisms. This project benefits from the wide-ranging expertise of the US-Brazil investigative team, whose research spans insect and fungal taxonomy, phylogenetics, genomics, and natural products chemistry.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.