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Published on: October 27, 2013
Primitive agriculture in a social amoeba
Debra A Brock1, Tracy E Douglas, David C Queller
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USA. dbrock@rice.edu
Nature
|January 21, 2011
Summary
Social amoebas, Dictyostelium discoideum, exhibit primitive agriculture by farming bacteria. This involves prudent harvesting and dispersal, offering a survival advantage in new environments.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Ecology
Background:
- Agriculture is key to human ecological success.
- Fungus-growing ants, termites, and beetles practice advanced agriculture.
- Primitive examples include marine snails and damselfish farming algae and fungi.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate primitive farming symbiosis in microorganisms.
- To demonstrate bacterial husbandry in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum.
- To understand the evolutionary and ecological implications of microbial farming.
Main Methods:
- Observation of wild-collected Dictyostelium discoideum clones.
- Analysis of bacterial incorporation into fruiting bodies.
- Assessment of bacterial dispersal and seeding strategies.
Main Results:
- Approximately one-third of wild Dictyostelium discoideum clones practice bacterial husbandry.
- These amoebas incorporate bacteria into fruiting bodies for dispersal.
- This strategy provides an advantage when establishing in new, bacteria-scarce environments.
Conclusions:
- Dictyostelium discoideum engages in a primitive farming symbiosis with bacteria.
- This behavior shows convergent evolution with insect agriculture.
- Multigenerational benefits favor kin groups in farming symbiosis.
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