D3533: A look into the microbiome of Pheidole adrianoi, an ant that associates with mycorrhizae

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM MST

Location: Phoenix Convention Center, Exhibit Hall 6, PCC

Presenting Author(s)

EM

Erin Samantha McFarland (she/her/hers)

Lab Manager
University of Texas at Tyler
Tyler, Texas

Co-Author(s)

JS

Jon Nicholas Seal

Professor
University of Texas
Tyler, Texas
Katrin Kellner (she/her/hers)

Associate Professor
University of Texas
Tyler, Texas
WT

Walter Tschinkel

Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida

Pheidole adrianoi is an ant found in the sandy pine forests in the southeastern US. This ant is interesting because it appears to form a symbiosis with fungi. These ants collect and line their nest chambers with the sclerotia of Cenococcum ectomycorrhizae, which ordinarily associated with roots of pine trees. The ants are creating a structure that consisting of a solid connected layer of fungus on the inside of the nest chamber that stays intact when excavated. As very little is known about this symbiosis, we conducted a initial study where we described the fungal and bacterial microbiome of this any species using ITS and 16S Illumina-based sequencing. The over-arching goal is to describe fungal and bacterial microbiomes to ultimately understand more about the basis of the interaction between P. adrianoi and ectomycorrhizae.