A preference assay for quantifying symbiont choice in fungus-growing ants (Attini, Formicidae) |
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Authors: | N. K. Advani U. G. Mueller |
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Affiliation: | (1) Section of Integrative Biology, Patterson Laboratories, 1 University Station #C0930, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA;(2) Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama |
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Abstract: | We describe a bioassay for the quantification of cultivar preference (symbiont choice) of fungus-growing ants. The bioassay simultaneously presents mycelium of multiple pure cultivar genotypes to worker ants in a cafeteria-style test arena, and preferred versus non-preferred cultivar genotypes can then be identified based on the ants’ quantifiable behavioral tendencies to convert any of the offered mycelium into a fungus garden. Under natural conditions, fungus-growing ants are likely to express such cultivar preferences when mutant cultivars arise in a garden, or when colonies acquire a novel cultivar from a neighboring colony to replace their resident cultivar. We show that workers from different nests of the fungus-growing ant Cyphomyrmex costatus exhibit repeatable preferences vis-à-vis specific cultivar genotypes. The identified preferred and rejected cultivars can then be used in a performance assay to test whether the ants prefer cultivar genotypes that are superior in enhancing colony fitness (measured, for example, as garden productivity or colony growth), as predicted by symbiont-choice theory. Received 24 February 2006; revised 23 June 2006; accepted 26 June 2006. |
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Keywords: | Cyphomyrmex costatus mutualism partner choice symbiont choice symbiosis |
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