Fungal Gardens Kept Free of ‘weeds’

Biological Strategy

Leafcutter ants

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Image: Gabriel Uribe / Pixabay / Free non-commercial use

Protect From Fungi

Fungi–which include molds and mushrooms, amongst others–play important roles in every ecosystem, but can also create diseases in plants and animals. Fungi can rapidly reproduce, so living systems must fend them off early to avoid their spread and potential, physical harm. Living systems use both physical and chemical strategies to protect from fungi, and must ensure that these strategies don’t harm the threatened living system itself. For example, a pumpkin’s skin has antifungal proteins to prevent fungal growth without harming the pumpkin itself.

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Protect From Microbes

In living systems, microbes play important roles, such as breaking down organic matter and maintaining personal and system health. But they also pose threats. Bacteria can be pathogens that cause diseases. Some bacteria create colonies called biofilms that can coat surfaces, reducing their effectiveness–for example, inhibiting a leaf’s ability to photosynthesize. Living systems must have strategies for protecting from microbes that cause disease or become so numerous that they create an imbalance in the system. At the same time, living systems must continue living in harmony with other microbes. Some living systems kill microbes. Others repel without killing to reduce the chances that microbes will adapt to the lethal strategy and become resistant to it. For example, some pea seedlings exude a chemical that inhibits biofilm buildup.

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Insects

Class Insecta (“an insect”): Flies, ants, beetles, cockroaches, fleas, dragonflies

Insects are the most abundant arthropods—they make up 90% of the animals in the phylum. They’re found everywhere on earth except the deep ocean, and scientists estimate there are millions of insects not yet described. Most live on land, but many live in freshwater or saltwater marshes for part of their life cycles. Insects have three distinct body sections: a head, which has specialized mouthparts, a thorax, which has jointed legs, and an abdomen. They have well-developed nervous and sensory systems, and are the only invertebrate that can fly, thanks to their lightweight exoskeletons and small size.

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The fungus gardens grown by leaf-cutter ants are kept free of unwanted fungi and bacteria using multiple antimicrobial compounds concurrently.

Where Are Ants Carrying All Those Leaves?

“Scientists at the University of East Anglia, have shown that
fungus-farming ants are using multiple antibiotics as weed killers to
maintain their fungus gardens…ants use the antibiotics to inhibit the growth of unwanted fungi and bacteria
in their fungus cultures which they use to feed their larvae and queen

“These antibiotics are produced by actinomycete bacteria that live on the ants in a mutual .

“Although these ants have been studied for more than 100 years this
is the first demonstration that a single ant colony uses multiple
antibiotics and is reminiscent of the use of multidrug therapy to treat
infections in humans.

“…Dr Hutchings’ research investigates the Acromyrmex octospinosus leaf
cutter ant, endemic in South and Central America and the southern US.” (EurekAlert! 2010)

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http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/109
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-08/uoea-aft082610.php

Last Updated August 18, 2016

References

Ants found to use multiple antibiotics as weed killers

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Reference

Journal article

A mixed community of actinomycetes produce multiple antibiotics for the fungus farming ant Acromyrmex octospinosus

BMC Biology | 26/08/2010 | Jörg Barke, Ryan F Seipke, Sabine Grüschow, Darren Heavens, Nizar Drou, Mervyn J Bibb, Rebecca JM Goss, Douglas W Yu, Matthew I Hutchings

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