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The symbiosis between Philidris ants and the ant-plant Dischidia major includes fungal and algal associates

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Abstract

Dischidia major is an epiphyte with pitcher leaves that serve as nests for ants. We investigated this ant-plant symbiosis in two sites in southeastern Thailand, Rayong and Trat, using a morphological and molecular approach. In our study sites, D. major was colonized by one monomorphic ant species of genus Philidris. The inner surface of the pitcher leaves had a black and green lining composed of intermingled coccoid cells and filaments of algae and fungi, reminiscent of a biofilm structure. Microscopic investigation of the algae suggested they belonged to Trebouxia (coccoid cells) and Trentepohliaceae (filaments). Molecular investigation of environmental samples and pure cultures of the fungi revealed five species of Chaetothyriales and four species of Capnodiales, among which two have already been isolated from ant-plant symbioses in Africa and South America and five were described species known from various environments around world. One appears to be an undescribed species. Thus, most fungal associates were likely ubiquitous species. Our study highlights the need to include the identity and functional ecology of microbes in studies of the evolutionary and functional ecology of ant-plant symbioses.

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Data availability

All DNA sequences that support the findings of this study are publicly available in GenBank at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all the reviewers for their time spent and their constructive criticisms. We thank Marie-Pierre Dubois for providing facilities for molecular biology bench work. We also thank Phattaravee Prommanut for his enthusiastic help during fieldwork. Data used in this work were partly produced through the GEMEX technical facilities of the Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive with the support of LabEx CeMEB, an ANR Investissements d’avenir program (ANR-10-LABX-04-01).This research was supported by the ‘Franco-Thai Mobility Programme (PHC SIAM, France) 2018–2019’ (project number 40533RA), by the programme ‘International Emerging Actions’ of the CNRS, France (project FOOLFLY 2020-2021), and by Chulalongkorn University: CU-GR_61_020_23_007.

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This research was supported by ‘Franco-Thai Mobility Programme (PHC SIAM, France) 2018–2019’ (project number 40533RA), by the programme ‘International Emerging Actions’ of the CNRS, France (project FOOLFLY 2020–2021), and by Chulalongkorn University: CU-GR_61_020_23_007.

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  1. CEFE, Univ. Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Univ. Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France

    Rumsaïs Blatrix & Doyle McKey

  2. Plants of Thailand Research Unit, Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Pathumwan, 10330, Thailand

    Aroonrat Kidyoo, Manit Kidyoo & Anchittha Satjarak

  3. Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Pathumwan, 10330, Thailand

    Jittra Piapukiew & Chanita Paliyavuth

  4. Rayong Botanical Garden, Rayong, Thailand

    Wachana Boonchai

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  1. Rumsaïs Blatrix
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Blatrix, R., Kidyoo, A., Kidyoo, M. et al. The symbiosis between Philidris ants and the ant-plant Dischidia major includes fungal and algal associates. Symbiosis 83, 305–315 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-021-00751-x

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