ArticleNature communications2018
Herbivorous turtle ants obtain essential nutrients from a conserved nitrogen-recycling gut microbiome.
Article in Nature communications, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 83 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
83 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 200 citations in OpenAlex.
- InferiorMicrobial genomics · 2024Pooled it
- Crosstalk in the cold: host-microbe interactions in insect diapause.Annals of the Entomological Society of America · 2026Review
- Regulatory mechanisms of nitrogen homeostasis in insect growth and development.Insect science · 2026Review
- Review
- A bacterial symbiont and a plant virus enhance insect fitness by inducing physical defenses against fungal parasites.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Bacterial Diversity in Leaf-Cutter Ant Species: Host-Microbe Interactions and Environmental Effects.Neotropical entomology · 2026Article
- Insect Lipid Metabolism in the Presence of Symbiotic and Pathogenic Viruses and Bacteria.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- The littler things that run the little things that run the world.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Microbial metabolites as engines of behavioral variation across animals.Gut microbes · 2025Review
- Contrasting Genomic Trajectories of Bartonellaceae Symbionts of Planthoppers.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Symbiotic solutions for colony nutrition: Conserved nitrogen recycling within the bacterial pouch ofProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Increased urea nitrogen salvaging by a remodeled gut microbiota helps nonhibernating pikas maintain protein homeostasis during winter.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Impact of rising temperatures on the bacterial communities of Aphaenogaster ants.Biology open · 2025Article
- Microbial Symbiosis in Lepidoptera: Analyzing the Gut Microbiota for Sustainable Pest Management.Biology · 2025Review
- Impact of Species and Developmental Stage on the Bacterial Communities of Aphaenogaster Ants.Current microbiology · 2025Article
- Ecological change and conflict reduction led to a social circulatory system in ants.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Consequences of "zombie-making" and generalist fungal pathogens on carpenter ant microbiota.Current research in insect science · 2025Article
- Interaction with refuse piles is associated with co-occurrence of core gut microbiota in workers of the ant Aphaenogaster picea.Access microbiology · 2025Article
- The modulation of intestinal commensal bacteria possibly contributes to the growth and immunity promotion in Epinephelus akaara after feeding the antimicrobial peptide Scy-hepc.Animal microbiome · 2024Article
- Characterization of larval gut microbiota of two endoparasitoid wasps associated with their common host,Microbiology spectrum · 2024Article
23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
15 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Nitrogen acquisition is a major challenge for herbivorous animals, and the repeated origins of herbivory across the ants have raised expectations that nutritional symbionts have shaped their diversification. Direct evidence for N provisioning by internally housed symbionts is rare in animals; among the ants, it has been documented for just one lineage. In this study we dissect functional contributions by bacteria from a conserved, multi-partite gut symbiosis in herbivorous Cephalotes ants through in vivo experiments, metagenomics, and in vitro assays. Gut bacteria recycle urea, and likely uric acid, using recycled N to synthesize essential amino acids that are acquired by hosts in substantial quantities. Specialized core symbionts of 17 studied Cephalotes species encode the pathways directing these activities, and several recycle N in vitro. These findings point to a highly efficient N economy, and a nutritional mutualism preserved for millions of years through the derived behaviors and gut anatomy of Cephalotes ants.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.