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Li TP, Wang CH, Xie JC, Wang MK, Chen J, Zhu YX, Hao DJ, Hong XY. Microbial changes and associated metabolic responses modify host plant adaptation in Stephanitis nashi. INSECT SCIENCE 2024. [PMID: 38369568 DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.13340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2023] [Revised: 01/13/2024] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Symbiotic microorganisms are essential for the physiological processes of herbivorous pests, including the pear lace bug Stephanitis nashi, which is known for causing extensive damage to garden plants and fruit trees due to its exceptional adaptability to diverse host plants. However, the specific functional effects of the microbiome on the adaptation of S. nashi to its host plants remains unclear. Here, we identified significant microbial changes in S. nashi on 2 different host plants, crabapple and cherry blossom, characterized by the differences in fungal diversity as well as bacterial and fungal community structures, with abundant correlations between bacteria or fungi. Consistent with the microbiome changes, S. nashi that fed on cherry blossom demonstrated decreased metabolites and downregulated key metabolic pathways, such as the arginine and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, which were crucial for host plant adaptation. Furthermore, correlation analysis unveiled numerous correlations between differential microorganisms and differential metabolites, which were influenced by the interactions between bacteria or fungi. These differential bacteria, fungi, and associated metabolites may modify the key metabolic pathways in S. nashi, aiding its adaptation to different host plants. These results provide valuable insights into the alteration in microbiome and function of S. nashi adapted to different host plants, contributing to a better understanding of pest invasion and dispersal from a microbial perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tong-Pu Li
- Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Chen-Hao Wang
- Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Jia-Chu Xie
- Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Meng-Ke Wang
- Department of Entomology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Jie Chen
- Department of Entomology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yu-Xi Zhu
- Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - De-Jun Hao
- Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Xiao-Yue Hong
- Department of Entomology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
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Bringhurst B, Greenwold M, Kellner K, Seal JN. Symbiosis, dysbiosis and the impact of horizontal exchange on bacterial microbiomes in higher fungus-gardening ants. Sci Rep 2024; 14:3231. [PMID: 38332146 PMCID: PMC10853281 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-53218-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Advances in our understanding of symbiotic stability have demonstrated that microorganisms are key to understanding the homeostasis of obligate symbioses. Fungus-gardening ants are excellent model systems for exploring how microorganisms may be involved in symbiotic homeostasis as the host and symbionts are macroscopic and can be easily experimentally manipulated. Their coevolutionary history has been well-studied; examinations of which have depicted broad clade-to-clade specificity between the ants and fungus. Few studies hitherto have addressed the roles of microbiomes in stabilizing these associations. Here, we quantified changes in microbiome structure as a result of experimentally induced horizontal exchange of symbionts. This was done by performing cross-fostering experiments forcing ants to grow novel fungi and comparing known temporally unstable (undergoing dysbiosis) and stable combinations. We found that fungus-gardening ants alter their unstable, novel garden microbiomes into configurations like those found in native gardens. Patterns of dysbiosis/symbiosis appear to be predictable in that two related species with similar specificity patterns also show similar patterns of microbial change, whereas a species with more relaxed specificity does not show such microbiome change or restructuring when growing different fungi. It appears that clade-to-clade specificity patterns are the outcomes of community-level interactions that promote stability or cause symbiotic collapse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blake Bringhurst
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd, Tyler, TX, 757998, USA
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH, 43212, USA
| | - Matthew Greenwold
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd, Tyler, TX, 757998, USA
| | - Katrin Kellner
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd, Tyler, TX, 757998, USA
| | - Jon N Seal
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd, Tyler, TX, 757998, USA.
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Kyle KE, Puckett SP, Caraballo-Rodríguez AM, Rivera-Chávez J, Samples RM, Earp CE, Raja HA, Pearce CJ, Ernst M, van der Hooft JJJ, Adams ME, Oberlies NH, Dorrestein PC, Klassen JL, Balunas MJ. Trachymyrmex septentrionalis ants promote fungus garden hygiene using Trichoderma-derived metabolite cues. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2219373120. [PMID: 37319116 PMCID: PMC10288546 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2219373120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
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 Trichoderma spp. can act as previously unrecognized pathogens of Trachymyrmex septentrionalis fungus gardens. Our environmental data showed that Trichoderma are the most abundant noncultivar fungi in wild T. septentrionalis fungus gardens. We further determined that metabolites produced by Trichoderma induce an ant weeding response that mirrors their response to live Trichoderma. Combining ant behavioral experiments with bioactivity-guided fractionation and statistical prioritization of metabolites in Trichoderma extracts demonstrated that T. septentrionalis ants weed in response to peptaibols, a specific class of secondary metabolites known to be produced by Trichoderma fungi. Similar assays conducted using purified peptaibols, including the two previously undescribed peptaibols trichokindins VIII and IX, suggested that weeding is likely induced by peptaibols as a class rather than by a single peptaibol metabolite. In addition to their presence in laboratory experiments, we detected peptaibols in wild fungus gardens. Our combination of environmental data and laboratory infection experiments strongly support that peptaibols act as chemical cues of Trichoderma pathogenesis in T. septentrionalis fungus gardens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen E. Kyle
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT06269
| | - Sara P. Puckett
- Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269
| | - Andrés Mauricio Caraballo-Rodríguez
- Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA92093-0657
| | - José Rivera-Chávez
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC27402
- Department of Natural Products, Instituto de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán, Mexico City, 04510, Mexico
| | - Robert M. Samples
- Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269
- Department of Chemistry, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT06269
| | - Cody E. Earp
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC27402
| | - Huzefa A. Raja
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC27402
| | | | - Madeleine Ernst
- Department of Congenital Disorders, Section for Clinical Mass Spectrometry, Danish Center for Neonatal Screening, Statens Serum Institut, 2300Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Justin J. J. van der Hooft
- Bioinformatics Group, Wageningen University & Research, 6708PBWageningen, the Netherlands
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa
| | - Madison E. Adams
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT06269
| | - Nicholas H. Oberlies
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC27402
| | - Pieter C. Dorrestein
- Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA92093-0657
- Department of Pharmacology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA92093-0657
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA92093-0657
| | - Jonathan L. Klassen
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT06269
| | - Marcy J. Balunas
- Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48109
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48109
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Bringhurst B, Allert M, Greenwold M, Kellner K, Seal JN. Environments and Hosts Structure the Bacterial Microbiomes of Fungus-Gardening Ants and their Symbiotic Fungus Gardens. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2022:10.1007/s00248-022-02138-x. [PMID: 36344828 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-022-02138-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The fungus gardening-ant system is considered a complex, multi-tiered symbiosis, as it is composed of ants, their fungus, and microorganisms associated with either ants or fungus. We examine the bacterial microbiome of Trachymyrmex septentrionalis and Mycetomoellerius turrifex ants and their symbiotic fungus gardens, using 16S rRNA Illumina sequencing, over a region spanning approximately 350 km (east and central Texas). Typically, microorganisms can be acquired from a parent colony (vertical transmission) or from the environment (horizontal transmission). Because the symbiosis is characterized by co-dispersal of the ants and fungus, elements of both ant and fungus garden microbiome could be characterized by vertical transmission. The goals of this study were to explore how both the ant and fungus garden bacterial microbiome are acquired. The main findings were that different mechanisms appear to explain the structure the microbiomes of ants and their symbiotic fungus gardens. Ant associated microbiomes had a strong host ant signature, which could be indicative of vertical inheritance of the ant associated bacterial microbiome or an unknown mechanism of active uptake or screening. On the other hand, the bacterial microbiome of the fungus garden was more complex in that some bacterial taxa appear to be structured by the ant host species, whereas others by fungal lineage or the environment (geographic region). Thus bacteria in fungus gardens appear to be acquired both horizontally and vertically.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blake Bringhurst
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd, Tyler, TX, 75799, USA
| | - Mattea Allert
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd, Tyler, TX, 75799, USA
| | - Matthew Greenwold
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd, Tyler, TX, 75799, USA
| | - Katrin Kellner
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd, Tyler, TX, 75799, USA
| | - Jon N Seal
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd, Tyler, TX, 75799, USA.
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