Ecologia

URI permanente para esta coleçãohttps://locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/182

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    Mitochondrial DNA markers as taxonomic characters and evidence of independent evolution in leaf-cutting ants genera
    (Universidade Federal de Viçosa, 2023-10-18) Ndubuisi, Perpetua Onyinyechi; Cardoso, Danon Clemes
    Ants are among the most ecologically successful insects due to their diversity and occurrence in diverse habitats and terrestrial ecosystems. Ants manifest a diversity of biological attributes and ecological functions from soil modification, participation in nutrient cycling and diversity of biological interactions. In the Neotropics, fungus-growing ants stand out, establishing a symbiotic relationship with Basidiomycete fungi that are maintained, nourished and consumed by these ants. Fungi, on the other hand, receive protection, nutrition and are dispersed together with them. More than 200 species are known and occur from the southern United States to Argentina, with the exception of Chile. The most conspicuous and considered herbivores in the Neotropics are the leaf-cutting ants, which stand out because they exclusively use fresh cut plant material to nourish the symbiotic fungus. Two genera brought together more than 52 species and another 22 subspecies called Atta and Acromyrmex. However, some species did not fit the morphological descriptions of the two genera and were relocated to a new genus called Amoimyrmex. Furthermore, cytogenetic, and molecular data showed such taxonomic modification. However, there are still discussions about whether to keep the three genres or combine them into one. Here, we compare a segment of the mitochondrial genome that includes DNA barcode with the aim of evaluating whether structural molecular traits from molecular sequences can be used in an integrative taxonomic approach. In this study we evaluated the mitochondrial sequence of cytochrome oxidase 1 – tRNA Leucine – Cytochrome oxidase 2 of leaf-cutter ant species obtained from GenBank. In our comparative analysis we found that several molecular traits corroborate each of the leaf- cutter ant genera, such as shared insertions and deletions in the terminal portion of the genes, variation in the size of gene spacers and tRNALeu. Such data are taxonomically informative and can be used in an integrative taxonomic approach. Keywords: Ants. Mitochondrial genome. Leafcutter-ants. Molecular markers.