Publications by authors named "Joseph A Moeller"
Article Synopsis
- Plants contain lots of organic carbon, mainly in forms that most animals can't break down, but some herbivores, like leaf-cutter ants, rely on microbes to get nutrients from this material.
- Leaf-cutter ants create fungus gardens using fresh leaves to grow a specific fungus called Leucoagaricus gongylophorus, which helps them process plant material.
- The research reveals the genome of L. gongylophorus and its role in breaking down plant biomass, showing that it produces various enzymes needed for this process, which is crucial for the ants' survival and for carbon cycling in their ecosystems.
Streptomyces griseus strain XylebKG-1 is an insect-associated strain of the well-studied actinobacterial species S. griseus. Here, we present the genome of XylebKG-1 and discuss its similarity to the genome of S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLeaf-cutter ants are one of the most important herbivorous insects in the Neotropics, harvesting vast quantities of fresh leaf material. The ants use leaves to cultivate a fungus that serves as the colony's primary food source. This obligate ant-fungus mutualism is one of the few occurrences of farming by non-humans and likely facilitated the formation of their massive colonies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnts are some of the most abundant and familiar animals on Earth, and they play vital roles in most terrestrial ecosystems. Although all ants are eusocial, and display a variety of complex and fascinating behaviors, few genomic resources exist for them. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of a particularly widespread and well-studied species, the invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile), which was accomplished using a combination of 454 (Roche) and Illumina sequencing and community-based funding rather than federal grant support.
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