Researchers unearth bioenergy potential in leaf-cutter ant communities

University of Wisconsin - Madison

June 13, 2013

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Bacteria tend leafcutter ants' gardens

EurekAlert!
1-Mar-2012
DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Microbes turn leaves into nutrients; knowledge could improve biofuel production

RICHLAND, Wash. – Leafcutter ants, the tiny red dots known for carrying green leaves as they march through tropical forests, are also talented farmers that cultivate gardens of fungi and bacteria. Ants eat fungi from the so-called fungal gardens, but the bacteria's role has been unclear until now.

New research shows the bacteria help decompose the leaves and play a major role in turning the leaves into nutrients that may be important for both ants and fungi. The findings were published March 1 by The ISME Journal, a publication of the International Society for Microbial Ecology.

"This research provides some of the first tangible details about the fascinating symbiotic relationship between leafcutter ants, fungi and bacteria," said Kristin Burnum, a bioanalytical chemist at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Burnum is a co-author on the paper and led the study's protein analysis. "Understanding how bacteria turn plant matter into a source of energy in ant fungal gardens could also help improve biofuel production."

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Ants may provide cellulosic solution

Ethanol Producer Magazine November 2009
By Craig A. Johnson
Report posted on Nov. 5, 2009, at 4:25 p.m. CST

At the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center in Madison, Wis., researchers are looking to leafcutter ants for new enzymatic processes that will further progress efforts to commercialize cellulosic ethanol. Leafcutter ants, which are found in tropical climates and live in enormous colonies that can number in the millions, have evolved several features over time that make their particular cocktail of enzymes attractive to researchers.

“Our lab is an evolution and ecology lab, and we’re very interested in natural systems that take advantage of lignocellulolytic biomass and use microbes to break down [cellulosic] feedstocks,” said Garret Suen, a post doctoral research fellow at the GLBRC. “If we go to a system that is specialized to produce exactly what it is we’re looking for, we may find something of use.”

Converting plant cell walls into simple sugars, the basic premise for cellulosic ethanol, is a major challenge for scientists. Leafcutter ants, which tend massive fungal gardens of their decaying byproducts, may present a worthwhile solution.

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Community Genome Could Produce Biofuels

Discovery News
Eric Bland, Discovery News

Leaf Cutter Ants | Discovery News Video July 6, 2009 -- The genomes of 17 different ants, fungi and bacteria that eat through hundreds of pounds of leaf matter a year could ultimately lead to new techniques for making biofuels.

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin, the Joint Genome Institute and Emory University are sequencing the first-ever community genome, searching for clues to how what's essentially a 50 million-year-old bioreactor operates.

"These leaf cutter ants, fungi and bacteria can plow through over (880 lbs.) of dry leaves each year," said Garret Suen, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison working on the project.

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In Cahoots: Fungi, Ants, And Bacteria

Chemical and Engineering News
April 13, 2009
Volume 87, Number 15
Web Exclusive
ACS MEETING NEWS

Symbiotic system could be a source of potential drug leads and enzymes for biofuel production
Elizabeth K. Wilson and Amanda Yarnell

FOR YEARS scientists have been scrutinizing an ancient symbiotic love triangle involving ants, fungi, and bacteria: Tropical leafcutter ants chew leaf beds, which promotes fungal growth and thus helps the fungus. The ants then turn on the symbiotic fungus and eat it. Meanwhile, bacteria that live on the ants produce antibiotics that keep predator fungi from attacking the symbiotic fungus and destroying the ants' food supply.

More than just of ecological interest, this interconnected system is now proving to be a rich source of new chemistry, including antibiotics and enzymes that could break down biomass for biofuels, researchers announced at two recent meetings.

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