There is an urgent and growing need for novel antibiotics with the rapid emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Ecologically-guided discovery is a strategy that focuses on how and where specially evolved metabolites such as antibacterials and antifungals are used in natural settings. This strategy reveals unique molecules with potential for use as antibiotics. 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 and antibacterial molecules to protect themselves from niche competitors. Recently, new antibiotics have been isolated from Trachymyrmex ant symbionts collected in the southwestern U.S., such as a novel analog of the antibiotic nocamycin. This finding suggests that this unique environment may yield additional novel metabolites. Here we report preliminary findings from a large-scale and systematic analysis of symbiont-derived natural products from this niche to understand their distribution and discovery potential, with the ultimate goal of discovering and characterizing novel bioactive compounds. We have assembled a collection of Actinobacteria isolated from 40 colonies of Trachymyrmex ants in Arizona. An extract library has been prepared from this collection, and ongoing metabolomics analysis and antibiotic activity testing of that library indicates the distribution of active molecules.

Analysis of bioactive molecules produced by fungus-growing ants' bacterial symbionts in an unexplored desert environment

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.