Phylogeny of the attine ant fungi based on analysis of
small subunit ribosomal
RNA gene sequences.
G. Hinkle, J. K. Wetterer, T. R. Schultz & M. L. Sogin
Marine Biological laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543
Science 266: 1695-1697 (1994)
Abstract
Complete 16S-like ribosomal RNA coding regions were obtained
from the fungal symbiont of five genera of attine (leaf-
cutting) ants and two free-living fungi. Phylogenetic
analyses with distance matrix, maximum likelihood, and
parsimony methods revealed that the attine fungal symbionts
are homobasidiomycetes in the order Agaricales. Comparison of
the topology of the attine fungal symbiont phylogenetic tree
with a tree based on attine ant morphology revealed a
congruent branching pattern of the more derived attine ants
and their fungal symbionts. The parallel branching pattern
suggests a long-term coevolution of derived leaf-cutting
attine ants and their fungal symbionts.
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