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Bacteria associated with leaf-cutter ants drive natural antibiotic resistance in soil bacteria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2022

Sophia Simon ,
Kelsey Chai ,
Matthew Drescher  and
Johel Chaves-Campos Open the ORCID record for Johel Chaves-Campos [Opens in a new window]
Sophia Simon
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 433 S University Ave, Philadelphia, PA19104, USA
Kelsey Chai
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA19041, USA
Matthew Drescher
Affiliation:
College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY14853-6401, USA
Johel Chaves-Campos*
Affiliation:
Council on International Educational Exchange, Tropical Ecology and Conservation Study Abroad Program, Monteverde60109, Costa Rica Verto Education, Costa Rica Program, CATIE, Turrialba30501, Costa Rica
*
Author for correspondence: Johel Chaves-Campos, Email: JohelChaves@gmail.com
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Abstract

Actinobacteria that live mutualistically with leaf-cutter ants secrete antibiotics that may induce antibiotic resistance in nearby soil bacteria. We tested for the first time whether soil bacteria near and inside Atta cephalotes nests in Costa Rica show higher levels of antibiotic resistance than bacteria collected farther away. We collected soil samples 0 m to 50 m away from ant nests and grew bacteria from them on agar with paper discs treated with antibiotics of common veterinary use. As a proxy for antibiotic resistance, we measured the distance from the edge of each disc to the closest bacterial colonies. In general, resistance to oxytetracycline increased with proximity to leaf-cutter ant nests. Antibiotic resistance to oxytetracycline was also higher in samples collected inside the nest than in samples from the nest mound; not all antibiotics demonstrated the same trend. A preliminary exploratory morphological analysis suggests bacterial communities between 0 m and 50 m from ant nests were similar in diversity and abundance, indicating the pattern of antibiotic resistance described above may not be caused by differences in community composition. We conclude that actinobacteria living mutualistically with A. cephalotes drive natural antibiotic resistance to tetracycline in proximal bacterial communities.

Keywords

antibiotic resistancemutualismactinobacteriaAtta cephalotesleaf-cutter ants
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 38 , Issue 6 , November 2022 , pp. 410 - 415
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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