title: Army ants harbor a host-specific clade of Entomoplasmatales bacteria.
abstract: In this article, we describe the distributions of Entomoplasmatales bacteria across the ants, identifying a novel lineage of gut bacteria that is unique to the army ants. While our findings indicate that the Entomoplasmatales are not essential for growth or development, molecular analyses suggest that this relationship is host specific and potentially ancient. The documented trends add to a growing body of literature that hints at a diversity of undiscovered associations between ants and bacterial symbionts.
authors.affiliation: Drexel University, Department of Biology, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Colin F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Funaro
authors.forename: Daniel J C
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kronauer
authors.forename: Corrie S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Moreau
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goldman-Huertas
authors.forename: Naomi E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Pierce
authors.forename: Jacob A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Russell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000382:microbiology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D008973:Tenericutes / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S