Chemical Gradients of Plant Substrates in an Atta texana Fungus Garden
Andrés Mauricio Caraballo-Rodríguez,
Sara P. Puckett,
Kathleen E. Kyle,
Daniel Petras,
Ricardo da Silva,
Louis-Félix Nothias,
Madeleine Ernst,
Justin J. J. van der Hooft,
Anupriya Tripathi,
Mingxun Wang,
Marcy J. Balunas,
Jonathan L. Klassen,
Pieter C. Dorrestein
Affiliations
Andrés Mauricio Caraballo-Rodríguez
Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
Sara P. Puckett
Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
Kathleen E. Kyle
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
Daniel Petras
Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
Ricardo da Silva
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
Louis-Félix Nothias
Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
Madeleine Ernst
Section for Clinical Mass Spectrometry, Danish Center for Neonatal Screening, Department of Congenital Disorders, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
Justin J. J. van der Hooft
Bioinformatics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands
Anupriya Tripathi
Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
Mingxun Wang
Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
Marcy J. Balunas
Division of Medicinal Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
Jonathan L. Klassen
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
Pieter C. Dorrestein
Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
ABSTRACT Many ant species grow fungus gardens that predigest food as an essential step of the ants’ nutrient uptake. These symbiotic fungus gardens have long been studied and feature a gradient of increasing substrate degradation from top to bottom. To further facilitate the study of fungus gardens and enable the understanding of the predigestion process in more detail than currently known, we applied recent mass spectrometry-based approaches and generated a three-dimensional (3D) molecular map of an Atta texana fungus garden to reveal chemical modifications as plant substrates pass through it. The metabolomics approach presented in this study can be applied to study similar processes in natural environments to compare with lab-maintained ecosystems. IMPORTANCE The study of complex ecosystems requires an understanding of the chemical processes involving molecules from several sources. Some of the molecules present in fungus-growing ants’ symbiotic system originate from plants. To facilitate the study of fungus gardens from a chemical perspective, we provide a molecular map of an Atta texana fungus garden to reveal chemical modifications as plant substrates pass through it. The metabolomics approach presented in this study can be applied to study similar processes in natural environments.
