English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

The attine ant system is a remarkable example of symbiosis. An antagonistic partner within this system is the fungal parasite  Escovopsis , a genus specific to the fungal gardens of the Attini.  Escovopsis  parasitizes the  Leucoagaricus  symbiont that leaf-cutting ants ( Acromyrmex ,  Atta ) have been farming over the past 8–12 Myr. However, it has been a puzzle how  Escovopsis  reaches its host. During a seasonal survey of nests of  Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus  in Atlantic rainforest in Brazil,  Escovopsis  was detected in all the sampled fungal garden waste tips or middens ( n  = 111). Middens were built strategically; always below the nest entrances. Here, we report the first evidence of a putative mechanism for horizontal transmission of  Escovopsis  between attine colonies. It is posited that leaf-cutting ants pick up the spores from soil and litter during foraging and vector the mycoparasite between attine colonies. Field and laboratory experiments, using  At. laevigata  and  Ac. subterraneus subterraneus , confirm that  Escovopsis  spores are phoretic, and have an inbuilt dormancy, broken by the presence of their  Leucoagaricus  host. However, in the coevolutionary arms race,  Atta  ants may lose out—despite most species in the genus investing in a more advanced waste disposal system—due to the insanitary habits of their  Acromyrmex  neighbours.

Putting the waste out: a proposed mechanism for transmission of the mycoparasite Escovopsis between leafcutter ant colonies