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Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology
Biogeography Of Special Metabolites Produced By Ant-Associated Bacteria, Katherine Hansen
Biogeography Of Special Metabolites Produced By Ant-Associated Bacteria, Katherine Hansen
Scripps Senior Theses
There is an urgent and growing need for novel antibiotics with the growing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Ecologically-guided discovery is a strategy that focuses on how and where specially evolved metabolites such as antibiotics are used in nature. This strategy reveals unique active molecules with potential for human use. An unexplored niche with great potential for antibiotic discovery exists with Southwestern fungus-farming Trachymyrmex ants and their Actinobacteria symbionts. In exchange for nutrients from the ant, the ants’ bacterial symbiont produces antifungal molecules that protect the ants’ fungal cultivar from invasion by pathogenic microorganisms. They also produce antibacterial molecules to protect …