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The effect of metapleural gland secretion on the growth of a mutualistic bacterium on the cuticle of leaf-cutting ants

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Abstract

In Acromyrmex octospinosus leaf-cutting ants the metapleural glands produce an array of antibiotic compounds that serve as a general defence against unwanted microbes on the cuticle. Leaf-cutting ants also grow mutualistic Pseudonocardiaceae bacteria on their cuticle that produce antibiotics controlling a microfungal parasite of their fungus gardens. Interaction between this bacterium and gland secretion therefore seems unavoidable. We document the typical development of bacterial growth on the cuticle of young major workers, show that growth starts a few days after eclosion, and that the maximal cover is reached after 2–3 weeks and gradually declines when workers mature. Experimental closure of the metapleural glands had no effect on the initial exponential growth phase of the bacterium, but significantly reduced the cover during the decline phase. The age-dependent abundance of the bacterium and its partial dependence on metapleural gland secretion support the hypothesis that the abundance of this mutualist is actively regulated.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C.R. Currie for comments, G. Nachman for statistical advice, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for providing logistic help and facilities to work in Gamboa, and the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturales Renovables (INRENARE) for permission to sample ant colonies in Panama. The work of A.N.M.B. was funded by an EU-Marie Curie (B20) fellowship and fieldwork was supported by grants from the Carlsberg foundation to J.J.B. All experiments were performed in Denmark and comply with current Danish law.

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  1. Adrianne N. M. Bot

    Present address: Section of Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Evolutionary and Ecological Sciences, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Population Ecology, Zoological Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Michael Poulsen & Jacobus J. Boomsma

  2. Department of Ecology and Genetics, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Aarhus, 8000, Aarhus-C, Denmark

    Michael Poulsen & Adrianne N. M. Bot

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  1. Michael Poulsen
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  2. Adrianne N. M. Bot
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  3. Jacobus J. Boomsma
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Correspondence to Michael Poulsen.

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Poulsen, M., Bot, A.N.M. & Boomsma, J.J. The effect of metapleural gland secretion on the growth of a mutualistic bacterium on the cuticle of leaf-cutting ants. Naturwissenschaften 90, 406–409 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-003-0450-3

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