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Barcoto MO, Rodrigues A. Lessons From Insect Fungiculture: From Microbial Ecology to Plastics Degradation. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:812143. [PMID: 35685924 PMCID: PMC9171207 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.812143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Anthropogenic activities have extensively transformed the biosphere by extracting and disposing of resources, crossing boundaries of planetary threat while causing a global crisis of waste overload. Despite fundamental differences regarding structure and recalcitrance, lignocellulose and plastic polymers share physical-chemical properties to some extent, that include carbon skeletons with similar chemical bonds, hydrophobic properties, amorphous and crystalline regions. Microbial strategies for metabolizing recalcitrant polymers have been selected and optimized through evolution, thus understanding natural processes for lignocellulose modification could aid the challenge of dealing with the recalcitrant human-made polymers spread worldwide. We propose to look for inspiration in the charismatic fungal-growing insects to understand multipartite degradation of plant polymers. Independently evolved in diverse insect lineages, fungiculture embraces passive or active fungal cultivation for food, protection, and structural purposes. We consider there is much to learn from these symbioses, in special from the community-level degradation of recalcitrant biomass and defensive metabolites. Microbial plant-degrading systems at the core of insect fungicultures could be promising candidates for degrading synthetic plastics. Here, we first compare the degradation of lignocellulose and plastic polymers, with emphasis in the overlapping microbial players and enzymatic activities between these processes. Second, we review the literature on diverse insect fungiculture systems, focusing on features that, while supporting insects' ecology and evolution, could also be applied in biotechnological processes. Third, taking lessons from these microbial communities, we suggest multidisciplinary strategies to identify microbial degraders, degrading enzymes and pathways, as well as microbial interactions and interdependencies. Spanning from multiomics to spectroscopy, microscopy, stable isotopes probing, enrichment microcosmos, and synthetic communities, these strategies would allow for a systemic understanding of the fungiculture ecology, driving to application possibilities. Detailing how the metabolic landscape is entangled to achieve ecological success could inspire sustainable efforts for mitigating the current environmental crisis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariana O. Barcoto
- Center for the Study of Social Insects, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Rio Claro, Brazil
- Department of General and Applied Biology, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Rio Claro, Brazil
| | - Andre Rodrigues
- Center for the Study of Social Insects, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Rio Claro, Brazil
- Department of General and Applied Biology, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Rio Claro, Brazil
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2
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Muratore IB, Fandozzi EM, Traniello JFA. Behavioral performance and division of labor influence brain mosaicism in the leafcutter ant Atta cephalotes. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2022; 208:325-344. [PMID: 35112161 DOI: 10.1007/s00359-021-01539-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Revised: 12/27/2021] [Accepted: 12/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Brain evolution is hypothesized to be driven by behavioral selection on neuroarchitecture. We developed a novel metric of relative neuroanatomical investments involved in performing tasks varying in sensorimotor and processing demands across polymorphic task-specialized workers of the leafcutter ant Atta cephalotes and quantified brain size and structure to examine their correlation with our computational approximations. Investment in multisensory and motor integration for task performance was estimated to be greatest for media workers, whose highly diverse repertoire includes leaf-quality discrimination and leaf-harvesting tasks that likely involve demanding sensory and motor processes. Confocal imaging revealed that absolute brain volume increased with worker size and functionally specialized compartmental scaling differed among workers. The mushroom bodies, centers of sensory integration and learning and memory, and the antennal lobes, olfactory input sites, were larger in medias than in minims (gardeners) and significantly larger than in majors ("soldiers"), both of which had lower scores for involvement of olfactory processing in the performance of their characteristic tasks. Minims had a proportionally larger central complex compared to other workers. These results support the hypothesis that variation in task performance influences selection for mosaic brain structure, the independent evolution of proportions of the brain composed of different neuropils.
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Affiliation(s)
- I B Muratore
- Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
| | - E M Fandozzi
- Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - J F A Traniello
- Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
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3
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Schiøtt M, Boomsma JJ. Proteomics reveals synergy between biomass degrading enzymes and inorganic Fenton chemistry in leaf-cutting ant colonies. eLife 2021; 10:e61816. [PMID: 33433325 PMCID: PMC7877906 DOI: 10.7554/elife.61816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2020] [Accepted: 01/09/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The symbiotic partnership between leaf-cutting ants and fungal cultivars processes plant biomass via ant fecal fluid mixed with chewed plant substrate before fungal degradation. Here we present a full proteome of the fecal fluid of Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants, showing that most proteins function as biomass degrading enzymes and that ca. 85% are produced by the fungus and ingested, but not digested, by the ants. Hydrogen peroxide producing oxidoreductases were remarkably common in the proteome, inspiring us to test a scenario in which hydrogen peroxide reacts with iron to form reactive oxygen radicals after which oxidized iron is reduced by other fecal-fluid enzymes. Our biochemical assays confirmed that these so-called Fenton reactions do indeed take place in special substrate pellets, presumably to degrade plant cell wall polymers. This implies that the symbiotic partnership manages a combination of oxidative and enzymatic biomass degradation, an achievement that surpasses current human bioconversion technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Morten Schiøtt
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, UniversitetsparkenCopenhagenDenmark
| | - Jacobus J Boomsma
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, UniversitetsparkenCopenhagenDenmark
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Li H, Young SE, Poulsen M, Currie CR. Symbiont-Mediated Digestion of Plant Biomass in Fungus-Farming Insects. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ENTOMOLOGY 2021; 66:297-316. [PMID: 32926791 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ento-040920-061140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Feeding on living or dead plant material is widespread in insects. Seminal work on termites and aphids has provided profound insights into the critical nutritional role that microbes play in plant-feeding insects. Some ants, beetles, and termites, among others, have evolved the ability to use microbes to gain indirect access to plant substrate through the farming of a fungus on which they feed. Recent genomic studies, including studies of insect hosts and fungal and bacterial symbionts, as well as metagenomics and proteomics, have provided important insights into plant biomass digestion across insect-fungal mutualisms. Not only do advances in understanding of the divergent and complementary functions of complex symbionts reveal the mechanism of how these herbivorous insects catabolize plant biomass, but these symbionts also represent a promising reservoir for novel carbohydrate-active enzyme discovery, which is of considerable biotechnological interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongjie Li
- State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-products, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of Ministry of Agriculture and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China;
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA; ,
- Department of Energy Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Wisconsin Energy Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53726, USA
| | - Soleil E Young
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA; ,
| | - Michael Poulsen
- Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen East, Denmark;
| | - Cameron R Currie
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA; ,
- Department of Energy Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Wisconsin Energy Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53726, USA
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Maya-Yescas ME, Revah S, Le Borgne S, Valenzuela J, Palacios-González E, Terrés-Rojas E, Vigueras-Ramírez G. Growth of Leucoagaricus gongylophorus Möller (Singer) and production of key enzymes in submerged and solid-state cultures with lignocellulosic substrates. Biotechnol Lett 2021; 43:845-854. [PMID: 33389270 DOI: 10.1007/s10529-020-03057-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2020] [Accepted: 12/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to characterize the growth of the fungus Leucoagaricus gongylophorus LEU18496, isolated from the fungus garden of the nest of leaf cutter ants Atta mexicana. The fungus garden was cultivated in an artificial laboratory nest and the fungus further grown in submerged (SmC) and solid state (SSC) cultures with sugarcane bagasse, grass or model substrates containing CM-cellulose, xylan or lignin. The CO2 production rate with grass in SmC (Vmax 34.76 mg CO2 Lgas-1 day- 1) was almost four times than SSC (Vmax 9.49 mg CO2 Lgas-1 day- 1), while the production rate obtained in sugarcane bagasse in SmC (Vmax 16.02 mg CO2 Lgas-1 day- 1) was almost three times than that for SSC (Vmax 5.42 mg CO2 Lgas-1 day- 1). In addition, the fungus grew with defined carbon substrates mixtures in SmC, but at different rates, first xylan, followed by CM-cellulose and lignin. Endoglucanase and xylanase activities (U mgprotein-1) were detected in all cultures, the specific activity was higher in the fungus-garden, 5.2 and 1.8; followed by SSC-grass, 1.5 and 0.8, and SSC-bagasse, 0.9 and 0.8, respectively. Laccase activity in the fungus-garden was 44.8 U L- 1 and 10.9 U L- 1 in the SSC-grass. The gongylidia structures observed by environmental scanning electron microscopy were ca. 40 µm and the hyphae width ca. 5 µm. The results show that L. gongylophorus from A. mexicana have promising applications for the treatment of plant residues to release fermentable sugars and the production of high value lignocellulolytic enzymes such as endoglucanase, xylanase or laccases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minerva E Maya-Yescas
- Posgrado en Ciencias Naturales e Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa, Vasco de Quiroga 4871, Cuajimalpa, 05348, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - Sergio Revah
- Departamento de Procesos y Tecnología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa, Vasco de Quiroga 4871, Cuajimalpa, 05348, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - Sylvie Le Borgne
- Departamento de Procesos y Tecnología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa, Vasco de Quiroga 4871, Cuajimalpa, 05348, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - Jorge Valenzuela
- Red de Ecología Funcional, Instituto de Ecología, Carr. Antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, 91070, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
| | - Eduardo Palacios-González
- Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo, Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas 152, San Bartolo Atepehuacan, Gustavo A. Madero, 07730, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - Eduardo Terrés-Rojas
- Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo, Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas 152, San Bartolo Atepehuacan, Gustavo A. Madero, 07730, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - Gabriel Vigueras-Ramírez
- Departamento de Procesos y Tecnología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa, Vasco de Quiroga 4871, Cuajimalpa, 05348, Ciudad de México, Mexico.
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do Nascimento MO, de Almeida Sarmento R, Dos Santos GR, de Oliveira CA, de Souza DJ. Antagonism of Trichoderma isolates against Leucoagaricus gongylophorus (Singer) Möller. J Basic Microbiol 2017; 57:699-704. [PMID: 28614606 DOI: 10.1002/jobm.201600755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2016] [Revised: 05/08/2017] [Accepted: 05/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Filamentous fungi from the genus Trichoderma are commonly found in soil. They are considered facultative mycoparasites, and are antagonists of other fungi such as the cultivar of leaf-cutting ants (Leucoagaricus gongylophorus). The aim of the present study was to bioprospect Trichoderma spp. from different soils collected from Gurupi, Tocantins, Brazil, for antagonistic effects against the mutualistic fungus of leaf-cutting ants. To isolate filamentous fungi, samples were collected from six locations. Preliminarily, isolates were identified by morphological analysis as belonging to Trichoderma. Trichoderma spp. had their internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) of ribosomal RNA genes (rRNA) sequenced to confirm species-level taxonomy. L. gongylophorus was isolated from a laboratory ant colony. Antagonistic properties of seven isolates of Trichoderma against L. gongylophorus were measured using paired disks in Petri dishes with potato dextrose agar medium (PDA). All Trichoderma isolates inhibited the growth of L. gongylophorus in Petri dishes. Isolate 2 of Trichoderma spirale group exhibited slow mycelial growth in the Petri dish, and a high rate of inhibition against L. gongylophorus. This isolate is a promising fungus for field tests of biological control methods for leaf-cutting ants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariela Otoni do Nascimento
- Campus Universitário de Gurupi (Gurupi University Campus), Universidade Federal do Tocantins (Federal University of Tocantins), Gurupi, Tocantins, Brazil
| | - Renato de Almeida Sarmento
- Campus Universitário de Gurupi (Gurupi University Campus), Universidade Federal do Tocantins (Federal University of Tocantins), Gurupi, Tocantins, Brazil
| | - Gil Rodrigues Dos Santos
- Campus Universitário de Gurupi (Gurupi University Campus), Universidade Federal do Tocantins (Federal University of Tocantins), Gurupi, Tocantins, Brazil
| | - Cléia Almeida de Oliveira
- Campus Universitário de Gurupi (Gurupi University Campus), Universidade Federal do Tocantins (Federal University of Tocantins), Gurupi, Tocantins, Brazil
| | - Danival José de Souza
- Campus Universitário de Gurupi (Gurupi University Campus), Universidade Federal do Tocantins (Federal University of Tocantins), Gurupi, Tocantins, Brazil
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Chen B, Sun C, Liang X, Lu X, Gao Q, Alonso-Pernas P, Teh BS, Novoselov AL, Boland W, Shao Y. Draft Genome Sequence of Enterococcus mundtii SL 16, an Indigenous Gut Bacterium of the Polyphagous Pest Spodoptera littoralis. Front Microbiol 2016; 7:1676. [PMID: 27826292 PMCID: PMC5078691 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2016] [Accepted: 10/06/2016] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Bosheng Chen
- Laboratory of Invertebrate Pathology, College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University Hangzhou, China
| | - Chao Sun
- Analysis Center of Agrobiology and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang University Hangzhou, China
| | - Xili Liang
- Laboratory of Invertebrate Pathology, College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University Hangzhou, China
| | - Xingmeng Lu
- Laboratory of Invertebrate Pathology, College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University Hangzhou, China
| | - Qikang Gao
- Analysis Center of Agrobiology and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang University Hangzhou, China
| | - Pol Alonso-Pernas
- Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Jena, Germany
| | - Beng-Soon Teh
- Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Jena, Germany
| | - Alexey L Novoselov
- Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Jena, Germany
| | - Wilhelm Boland
- Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Jena, Germany
| | - Yongqi Shao
- Laboratory of Invertebrate Pathology, College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University Hangzhou, China
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