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Fijación de nitrógeno simbiótico en los jardines de hongos de las hormigas cortadoras de hojas
Adrián A Pinto-Tomás1, Mark A Anderson, Garret Suen
1Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1550 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|December 8, 2009
Resumen
La fijación simbiótica de nitrógeno por las bacterias en jardines de hongos proporciona a las hormigas cortadoras de hojas una fuente vital de nitrógeno. Este descubrimiento revela una nueva vía de nitrógeno en los ecosistemas neotropicales.
Área de la Ciencia:
- Ecología Ecología Ecología.
- Microbiología Microbiología.
- Las relaciones simbióticas son relaciones simbióticas.
Sus antecedentes:
- La fijación de nitrógeno atmosférico (N2) por las bacterias es crucial para la disponibilidad de nitrógeno en los ecosistemas terrestres.
- Las hormigas cortadoras de hojas cultivan cultivos especializados de hongos para su sustento.
Objetivo del estudio:
- Para investigar el papel de la fijación simbiótica de nitrógeno en jardines de hongos de hormigas cortadoras de hojas.
- Para identificar una fuente de nitrógeno no reconocida previamente en los ecosistemas neotrópicos.
Principales métodos:
- Pruebas de reducción de acetileno para medir las tasas de fijación de N2.
- Rastreo de isótopos estables para rastrear la incorporación de nitrógeno en la biomasa de las hormigas.
- Aislamiento e identificación de bacterias simbióticas fijadoras de N2 de jardines de hongos hormigueros.
Principales resultados:
- La fijación de nitrógeno (N2) se confirmó en los jardines de hongos de ocho especies de hormigas cortadoras de hojas.
- El nitrógeno fijo se incorporó con éxito a la biomasa de las hormigas cortadoras de hojas.
- Se aislaron consistentemente bacterias simbióticas fijadoras de N2 de 80 colonias de hormigas en varios países.
Conclusiones:
- La fijación simbiótica de nitrógeno es una fuente significativa de nitrógeno que apoya el cultivo de hongos de hormigas cortadoras de hojas.
- Este hallazgo amplía nuestra comprensión del ciclo del nitrógeno en los ecosistemas neotropicales.
- Destaca la importancia ecológica de las simbiosis insecto-microbio.
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