Fungus-growing attine ants are under constant threat from fungal pathogens such as the
specialized mycoparasite Escovopsis, which uses combined physical and chemical attack …

Macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs) are crucial for immune and inflammatory responses
and belong to a network of cells that has been termed the mononuclear phagocyte system …

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 …

Attine ants engage in a quadripartite symbiosis with fungi they cultivate for food, specialized
garden parasites, and parasite-inhibiting bacteria. Molecular phylogenetic evidence …

Background Attine ants live in an intensely studied tripartite mutualism with the fungus
Leucoagaricus gongylophorus, which provides food to the ants, and with antibiotic …

The fungus‐growing ants and their fungal cultivars constitute a classic example of a
mutualism that has led to complex coevolutionary dynamics spanning c. 55–65 Ma. Of the …

Abstract Leafcutter ants (Formicidae: tribe Attini) are well-known insects that cultivate
basidiomycete fungi (Agaricales: Lepiotaceae) as their principal food. Fungus gardens are …

Escovopsis is a symbiont of fungus-growing ant colonies. Unstandardised taxonomy
prevented the evaluation of the morphological diversity of Escovopsis for more than a …

Many microorganisms with specialized lifestyles have reduced genomes. This is best
understood in beneficial bacterial symbioses, where partner fidelity facilitates loss of genes …

The specialized, fungal pathogen Escovopsis weberi threatens the mutualistic symbiosis
between leaf‐cutting ants and their garden fungus (Leucoagaricus gongylophorus) …