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Yeasts in the nests of the leaf-cutter ant Acromyrmex balzani in a Savanna biome: exploitation of community and metabolic diversity

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Abstract

The leaf-cutter ant Acromyrmex balzani is responsible for causing important losses in reforestation areas, crops, and pastures, and is frequently found in the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado). So far, there is no information regarding the yeast communities that occur in their nests. Here, we evaluated the diversity, composition, and structure of yeast communities in both fungus gardens (FG) and external refuse dump (RD) of this ant species (Palmas, Tocantins, northern Brazil). A total of 720 yeasts were isolated, comprising 52 species distributed in 29 genera. The RDs have significantly richer and more diverse yeast communities than the fungus gardens, regardless of the season and the level of preservation in the area. The isolates produced a wide range of carbon polymer-degrading enzymes and were able to assimilate carbon-sources present in plant materials. We observed a different proportion of enzyme-producers and carbon-assimilation found in external refuse dump and fungus gardens from preserved and disturbed areas, suggesting that this interaction may vary depending on the environmental conditions. A. balzani nests in the savanna biome are a hotspot of yeast species with ecological, clinical, and biotechnological implications.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank "Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), grant #142731/2010-2 (WGPM), and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) with a postdoctoral fellowship to TBO (Grants 2012/14594-7 and 2017/09000-4) and WGPM (2015/01001-6). Also, Dr. Vanderlei Martins, Dr. Mariana Lira, and Dr. Franco Dani for the support in sequencing, and Dr. Heidi A. Horn for proofread the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by "Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), grants #142731/2010–2 (WGPM); Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) with a postdoctoral fellowship to TBO (Grants 2012/14594–7 and 2017/09000–4) and WGPM (2015/01001–6).

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Correspondence to Weilan Gomes da Paixão Melo.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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The DNA sequences were deposited in the NCBI-GenBank under accession numbers KF247224, KJ156986, and MW057362-MW057411.

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All authors have directly contributed to the planning, execution, and analysis of this study, and also read and approved the submitted version.

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Melo, W.G.d., de Oliveira, T.B., Arcuri, S.L. et al. Yeasts in the nests of the leaf-cutter ant Acromyrmex balzani in a Savanna biome: exploitation of community and metabolic diversity. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 114, 751–764 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-021-01555-1

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