Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Aylward FO
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3675943 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Aylward Frank O FO Burnum-Johnson Kristin E KE Tringe Susannah G SG Teiling Clotilde C Tremmel Daniel M DM Moeller Joseph A JA Scott Jarrod J JJ Barry Kerrie W KW Piehowski Paul D PD Nicora Carrie D CD Malfatti Stephanie A SA Monroe Matthew E ME Purvine Samuel O SO Goodwin Lynne A LA Smith Richard D RD Weinstock George M GM Gerardo Nicole M NM Suen Garret G Lipton Mary S MS Currie Cameron R CR
Applied and environmental microbiology 20130412 12
Plants represent a large reservoir of organic carbon comprised primarily of recalcitrant polymers that most metazoans are unable to deconstruct. Many herbivores gain access to nutrients in this material indirectly by associating with microbial symbionts, and leaf-cutter ants are a paradigmatic example. These ants use fresh foliar biomass as manure to cultivate gardens composed primarily of Leucoagaricus gongylophorus, a basidiomycetous fungus that produces specialized hyphal swellings that serve ...[more]