| Title |
Non-specific association between filamentous bacteria and fungus-growing ants
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
The Science of Nature, June 2007
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00114-007-0262-y |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Christian Kost, Tanja Lakatos, Ingo Böttcher, Wolf-Rüdiger Arendholz, Matthias Redenbach, Rainer Wirth |
| Abstract |
Fungus-growing ants and their fungal cultivar form a highly evolved mutualism that is negatively affected by the specialized parasitic fungus Escovopsis. Filamentous Pseudonocardia bacteria occurring on the cuticle of attine ants have been proposed to form a mutualistic interaction with these ants in which they are vertically transmitted (i.e. from parent to offspring colonies). Given a strictly vertical transmission of Pseudonocardia, the evolutionary theory predicts a reduced genetic variability of symbionts among ant lineages. The aim of this study was to verify whether actinomycetes, which occur on Acromyrmex octospinosus leaf-cutting ants, meet this expectation by comparing their genotypic variability with restriction fragment length polymorphisms. Multiple actinomycete strains could be isolated from both individual ant workers and colonies (one to seven strains per colony). The colony specificity of actinomycete communities was high: Only 15% of all strains were isolated from more than one colony, and just 5% were present in both populations investigated. Partial sequencing of 16S ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid of two of the isolated strains assigned both of them to the genus Streptomyces. Actinomycetes could also be isolated from workers of the two non-attine ant species Myrmica rugulosa and Lasius flavus. Sixty-two percent of the strains derived from attine ants and 80% of the strains isolated from non-attine ants inhibited the growth of Escovopsis. Our data suggest that the association between attine ants and their actinomycete symbionts is less specific then previously thought. Soil-dwelling actinomycetes may have been dynamically recruited from the environment (horizontal transmission), probably reflecting an adaptation to a diverse community of microbial pathogens. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 138 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 6 | 4% |
| Germany | 2 | 1% |
| Netherlands | 1 | <1% |
| New Zealand | 1 | <1% |
| Sweden | 1 | <1% |
| China | 1 | <1% |
| Denmark | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 125 | 91% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 35 | 25% |
| Researcher | 25 | 18% |
| Student > Master | 17 | 12% |
| Student > Bachelor | 16 | 12% |
| Professor | 8 | 6% |
| Other | 30 | 22% |
| Unknown | 7 | 5% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 105 | 76% |
| Environmental Science | 8 | 6% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 5 | 4% |
| Immunology and Microbiology | 4 | 3% |
| Unspecified | 2 | 1% |
| Other | 5 | 4% |
| Unknown | 9 | 7% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 9. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 January 2011.
All research outputs
#3,921,000
of 23,794,258 outputs
Outputs from The Science of Nature
#482
of 2,195 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#11,144
of 71,922 outputs
Outputs of similar age from The Science of Nature
#6
of 15 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,794,258 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 83rd percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,195 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.5. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 71,922 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 84% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 15 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 60% of its contemporaries.