One nutritional symbiosis begat another: Phylogenetic evidence that the ant tribe Camponotini acquired Blochmannia by tending sap-feeding insects |
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| Authors: | Jennifer J Wernegreen Seth N Kauppinen Seán G Brady and Philip S Ward |
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| Institution: | (1) Marine Biological Laboratory, Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, 02543 Woods Hole, MA, USA;(2) Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 20560 Washington, DC, USA;(3) Department of Entomology and Center for Population Biology, University of California, 95616 Davis, CA, USA;(4) Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, 94720 Berkeley, CA, USA |
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| Abstract: | Background Bacterial endosymbiosis has a recurring significance in the evolution of insects. An estimated 10-20% of insect species depend
on bacterial associates for their nutrition and reproductive viability. Members of the ant tribe Camponotini, the focus of
this study, possess a stable, intracellular bacterial mutualist. The bacterium, Blochmannia, was first discovered in Camponotus and has since been documented in a distinct subgenus of Camponotus, Colobopsis, and in the related genus Polyrhachis. However, the distribution of Blochmannia throughout the Camponotini remains in question. Documenting the true host range of this bacterial mutualist is an important
first step toward understanding the various ecological contexts in which it has evolved, and toward identifying its closest
bacterial relatives. In this study, we performed a molecular screen, based on PCR amplification of 16S rDNA, to identify bacterial
associates of diverse Camponotini species. |
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