Bitar, M.R., Tomé, L.-M.R., Costa, F.V., Kato, R.B., Oliveira, P.S., Góes-Neto, A. & Ribeiro, S.P.

Bacterial communities associated with a polydomous arboreal ant: inter-nest variation and interaction with the phyllosphere of a tropical tree.

Arboreal ants, abundant and dominant insects in tropical forests, interact with the bacterial communities of the canopies, especially with the bacteria associated with leaf surfaces. In this study, we investigated what kind of interactions exist between the bacterial community associated with the cuticle of a polydomous arboreal ant and the bacterial community associated with the phyllosphere of a tropical tree, in a non-obligatory ant-plant mutualism in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil. We collected ants of the species Azteca chartifex from main and satellite nests and leaves from Byrsonima sericea tree (Malpighiaceae), both from ant-colonized and ant-free trees. We used amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to investigate the diversity and composition of bacterial communities associated with (i) ants from main and satellite nests, (ii) the phyllosphere of leaves with and without ants, and (iii) we investigated the similarity between the bacterial communities associated with ants and the leaves they forage on. We found that ants from main and satellite nests have diferent bacterial communities. The diversity and composition of bacterial communities on leaf phyllospheres from ant-colonized and ant-free trees were diferent as well. Ant presence can decrease bacterial richness and share some bacteria with the leaves they forage on. Our study shows that bacteria are components of tripartite interactions involving a polydomous ant and its facultative mutualistic host tree. Further investigation is needed to understand the role of these bacteria on ant-colony and plant health.

Open access, licensed under CC BY 4.0. © 2024 The Author(s).

Hymenoptera, Formicidae, ant-plant mutualism, bacterial community, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing