The ant fungus garden acts as an external digestive system

Andrés Mauricio Caraballo‐Rodríguez; Sara P. Puckett; Kathleen E. Kyle; Daniel Petras; Ricardo Silva; Louis-Félix Nothias-Scaglia; Madeleine Ernst; Justin J. J. van der Hooft; Anupriya Tripathi; Mingxun Wang; Marcy J. Balunas; Jonathan L. Klassen; Pieter C. Dorrestein

doi:10.1101/2020.11.18.389361

Systems BiologybioRxivNov 18, 2020

Preprint

The ant fungus garden acts as an external digestive system

Andrés Mauricio Caraballo‐Rodríguez iD, Sara P. Puckett iD, Kathleen E. Kyle iD, Daniel Petras iD, Ricardo Silva iD, Louis-Félix Nothias-Scaglia iD, Madeleine Ernst iD, Justin J. J. van der Hooft iD, Anupriya Tripathi iD, Mingxun Wang iD, Marcy J. Balunas iD, Jonathan L. Klassen iD, Pieter C. Dorrestein iD

Abstract

Most animals digest their food within their own bodies, but some do not. Many species of ants grow fungus gardens that pre-digest food as an essential step of the ants nutrient uptake. To better understand this digestion process, we generated a 3D molecular map of an Atta texana fungus garden, revealing chemical modifications mediated by the fungus garden as plant material passes through.

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