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Small Molecule Dynamics and Partner Fidelity in an Ancient Host-Microbe Symbiosis
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Small Molecule Dynamics and Partner Fidelity in an Ancient Host-Microbe Symbiosis
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Dissertation
Small Molecule Dynamics and Partner Fidelity in an Ancient Host-Microbe Symbiosis
2018
Overview
Microbes engage in complex behaviors including cooperation, competition, and predation to engage in a range of mutualistic and pathogenic interactions with other organisms. These interactions are mediated through the production of small molecules that are diverse in structure and function. Of these small molecules, the ecology of those with antimicrobial properties are particularly poorly understood, as the behaviors they facilitate and the contexts in which they are produced are often complicated and difficult to observe. In this dissertation, I use interdisciplinary approaches to shed light on host-microbe interactions and their influence on small molecule production within the fungus-growing ant symbiosis. In chapter 1, I outline the fungus-growing ant symbiosis as a model to explore antibiotic-mediated interactions and argue that defensive mutualisms are especially well-suited for study of the ecological dynamics of antimicrobial small molecules. Chapter 2 of this thesis uses quantitative polymerase chain reaction to examine the role of Pseudonocardia, a defensive symbiont, in the context of social immunity of an ant colony. In chapter 3, I develop a mass spectrometry imaging method to allow detection of small molecules that are produced by Pseudonocardia on the ant exoskeleton. In chapter 4, I use this mass spectrometry imaging technique to examine species interactions that influence small molecule production in the leaf-cutter ant system. I find that interactions between Pseudonocardia and pathogens induce small molecules as well as the induction of small molecules in vivo that are not observed in vitro. Chapter 5 assesses the role of partner fidelity between ant host and bacterium on small molecule production. I perform host-symbiont switches and assess the effect of conspecific and allospecific switches on small molecule production. Preliminary results indicate that a combination of Pseudonocardia phylotype and ant host in conspecific switches may significantly alter small molecule production. Together, these works suggest that complex interactions between ant host and its defensive mutualist are influencing small molecule production and dynamics in a host-microbe symbiosis.
