Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2023, Jun-20, Volume: 120, Issue:25
Fungus-growing ants depend on a fungal mutualist that can fall prey to fungal pathogens. This mutualist is cultivated by these ants in structures called fungus gardens. Ants exhibit weeding behaviors that keep their fungus gardens healthy by physically removing compromised pieces. However, how ants detect diseases of their fungus gardens is unknown. Here, we applied the logic of Koch's postulates using environmental fungal community gene sequencing, fungal isolation, and laboratory infection experiments to establish that Topics: Animals; Ants; Cues; Gardens; Laboratory Infection; Peptaibols; Symbiosis; Trichoderma | 2023 |