Fungi are often inconspicuous in nature and this means it is all too easy to overlook their
importance. Often referred to as the “Forgotten Kingdom”, fungi are key components of life …

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 …

Centuries of artificial selection have dramatically improved the yield of human agriculture;
however, strong directional selection also occurs in natural symbiotic interactions. Fungus …

Ants are among the world's most abundant and dominant non-human animals. Yet in spite of
our growing knowledge of microbes as important associates of many animals, we have only …

Mollicutes, a widespread class of bacteria associated with animals and plants, were recently
identified as abundant abdominal endosymbionts in healthy workers of attine fungus …

Highlights•We tested whether gut microbes influence nestmate recognition in leaf-cutting
ants.•Gut microbiota suppression appears to affect aggression and cuticular …

Anthropogenic activities have extensively transformed the biosphere by extracting and
disposing of resources, crossing boundaries of planetary threat while causing a global crisis …

Leafcutter ants are dominant herbivores in the Neotropics and rely on a fungus
(Leucoagaricus gongylophorus) to transform freshly gathered leaves into a source of …

Agriculture is a form of symbiosis in which one symbiont (the “farmer”) benefits by cultivating
the other symbiont (the “crop” or, if the crop is genetically modified due to the symbiosis, the …

Leafcutter ants farm a fungal cultivar (Leucoagaricus gongylophorus) that converts inedible
vegetation into food that sustains colonies with up to millions of workers. Analogous to …