Data from: Dynamic Wolbachia prevalence in Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants: potential for a nutritional symbiosis

Wolbachia are renowned as reproductive parasites, but their phenotypic effects in eusocial insects are not well understood. We used a combination of qrt-PCR, fluorescence in situ hybridisation, and laser scanning confocal microscopy to evaluate the dynamics of Wolbachia infections in the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex octospinosus across developmental stages of sterile workers. We confirm that workers are infected with one or two widespread wsp genotypes of Wolbachia, show that colony prevalences are always 100%, and characterize two rare recombinant genotypes. One dominant genotype is always present and most abundant while another only proliferates in adult workers of some colonies and is barely detectable in larvae and pupae. An explanation may be that Wolbachia genotypes compete for host resources in immature stages while adult tissues provide substantially more niche space. Tissue-specific prevalences of the two genotypes differ, with the rarer genotype being overrepresented in the adult foregut and thorax muscles. Both genotypes occur extra-cellularly in the foregut, suggesting an unknown mutualistic function in worker ant nutrition. Both genotypes are also abundant in the faecal fluid of the ants, suggesting that they may have extended functional phenotypes in the fungus garden that the ants manure with their own faeces.Wolbachia（沃尔巴克氏体）素来被视为生殖寄生虫，但其在真社会性昆虫中的表型效应仍未得到充分解析。本研究结合实时定量聚合酶链反应（qrt-PCR）、荧光原位杂交（fluorescence in situ hybridisation, FISH）与激光扫描共聚焦显微镜技术，对尖颚切叶蚁（Acromyrmex octospinosus）不育工蚁不同发育阶段的沃尔巴克氏体感染动态进行了评估。研究证实，工蚁可感染一种或两种广泛分布的沃尔巴克氏体wsp基因型；所有蚁群的感染率均为100%，同时鉴定出两种罕见的重组基因型。一种优势基因型始终存在且丰度最高，而另一种仅在部分蚁群的成年工蚁中增殖，在幼虫与蛹阶段几乎无法被检测到。一种可能的解释是，未成熟阶段的宿主资源有限，沃尔巴克氏体基因型间会竞争宿主资源，而成虫组织可提供的生态位空间显著更多。两种基因型的组织特异性感染率存在差异，稀有基因型在成年工蚁的前肠与胸部肌肉中占比更高。两种基因型均分布于前肠的胞外区域，这提示它们可能在工蚁的营养获取过程中发挥尚未明确的共生功能。两种基因型在蚂蚁的粪便液中同样丰度较高，这表明它们或许可在蚂蚁以自身粪便抚育的菌圃中展现出延伸功能表型。