Trachymyrmex septentrionalis Ant Microbiome Assembly Is Unique to Individual Colonies and Castes

Abstract

ABSTRACT Within social insect colonies, microbiomes often differ between castes due to their different functional roles and between colony locations. Trachymyrmex septentrionalis fungus-growing ants form colonies throughout the eastern United States and northern Mexico that include workers, female and male alates (unmated reproductive castes), larvae, and pupae. How T. septentrionalis microbiomes vary across this geographic range and between castes is unknown. Our sampling of individual ants from colonies across the eastern United States revealed a conserved T. septentrionalis worker ant microbiome and revealed that worker ant microbiomes are more conserved within colonies than between them. A deeper sampling of individual ants from two colonies that included all available castes (pupae, larvae, workers, and female and male alates), from both before and after adaptation to controlled laboratory conditions, revealed that ant microbiomes from each colony, caste, and rearing condition were typically conserved within but not between each sampling category. Tenericute bacterial symbionts were especially abundant in these ant microbiomes and varied widely in abundance between sampling categories. This study demonstrates how individual insect colonies primarily drive the composition of their microbiomes and shows that these microbiomes are further modified by developmental differences between insect castes and the different environmental conditions experienced by each colony. IMPORTANCE This study investigates microbiome assembly in the fungus-growing ant Trachymyrmex septentrionalis, showing how colony, caste, and lab adaptation influence the microbiome and revealing unique patterns of mollicute symbiont abundance. We find that ant microbiomes differ strongly between colonies but less so within colonies. Microbiomes of different castes and following lab adaptation also differ in a colony-specific manner. This study advances our understanding of the nature of individuality in social insect microbiomes and cautions against the common practice of only sampling a limited number of populations to understand microbiome diversity and function.

Keywords

• fungus-growing ants
• microbial ecology
• microbiome
• mollicutes
• social insects