Ant microbial symbionts are a new model for drug discovery

Abstract

Ants have been widely studied, with 14,000 described species, but it is not until recently that they gained attention as sources for antimicrobial drug discovery. An increasing amount of studies are investigating ant-microbe symbioses, and clear benefits from their microbial counterparts have been experimentally demonstrated for ants in the tribes Attini, Camponotini and Cephalotini. The eusocial lifestyle of the insects, feeding on a wide variety of substrates, in some cases requires microbial symbionts to fight parasites. These microbes appear to be more active and less toxic than their traditionally explored soil counterparts, offering hope for our society’s fight against antimicrobial resistance.