TY - JOUR T1 - Nitrogen conservation, conserved: 46 million years of N-recycling by the core symbionts of turtle ants JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/185314 SP - 185314 AU - Yi Hu AU - Jon G. Sanders AU - Piotr Łukasik AU - Catherine L. D’Amelio AU - John S. Millar AU - David R. Vann AU - Yemin Lan AU - Justin A. Newton AU - Mark Schotanus AU - John T. Wertz AU - Daniel J. C. Kronauer AU - Naomi E. Pierce AU - Corrie S. Moreau AU - Philipp Engel AU - Jacob A. Russell Y1 - 2017/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/09/07/185314.abstract N2 - Nitrogen acquisition is a major challenge for herbivorous animals, and the repeated origins of herbivory across the ants have raised expectations that nutritional symbionts have shaped their diversification. Direct evidence for N-provisioning by internally housed symbionts is rare in animals; among the ants, it has been documented for just one lineage. In this study we dissect functional contributions by bacteria from a conserved, multi-partite gut symbiosis in herbivorous Cephalotes ants through in vivo experiments, (meta)genomics, and in vitro assays. Gut bacteria recycle urea, and likely uric acid, using recycled N to synthesize essential amino acids that are acquired by hosts in substantial quantities. Specialized core symbionts of 17 studied Cephalotes species encode the pathways directing these activities, and several recycle N in vitro. These findings point to a highly efficient N-economy, and a nutritional mutualism preserved for millions of years through the derived behaviors and gut anatomy of Cephalotes ants.Category Biological Sciences-Evolution ER -