Army Ants Harbor a Host-Specific Clade of Entomoplasmatales Bacteria

Citation:

Funaro CF, Kronauer DJC, Moreau CS, Goldman-Huertas B, Pierce NE, Russell JA. Army Ants Harbor a Host-Specific Clade of Entomoplasmatales Bacteria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2011;77 :346-350.
2011_funaro_et_al.pdf589 KB

Date Published:

Jan

Abstract:

In this article, we describe the distributions of Entomoplasmatales bacteria across the ants, identifying a novel lineage of gut bacteria that is unique to the army ants. While our findings indicate that the Entomoplasmatales are not essential for growth or development, molecular analyses suggest that this relationship is host specific and potentially ancient. The documented trends add to a growing body of literature that hints at a diversity of undiscovered associations between ants and bacterial symbionts.

Notes:

697WKTimes Cited:17Cited References Count:55

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