Chemical warfare between leafcutter ant symbionts and a co-evolved pathogen

Acromyrmex leafcutter ants form a mutually beneficial symbiosis with the fungus Leucoagaricus gongylophorus and with Pseudonocardia bacteria. Both are vertically transmitted and actively maintained by the ants. The fungus garden is manured with freshly cut leaves and provides the sole food for the ant larvae, while Pseudonocardia cultures are reared on the ant-cuticle and make antifungal metabolites to help protect the cultivar against disease. If left unchecked, specialized parasitic Escovopsis fungi can overrun the fungus-garden and lead to colony collapse. We report that Escovopsis upregulates the production of two specialized metabolites when it infects the cultivar. These compounds inhibit Pseudonocardia and one, shearinine D, also reduces worker behavioral defences and is ultimately lethal when it accumulates in ant tissues. Our results are consistent with an active evolutionary arms race between Pseudonocardia and Escovopsis, which modifies both bacterial and behavioral defences such that colony collapse is unavoidable once Escovopsis infections escalate

Fungal Genomes and Insights into the Evolution of the Kingdom

The kingdom Fungi comprises species that inhabit nearly all ecosystems. Fungi exist as both free-living and symbiotic unicellular and multicellular organisms with diverse morphologies. The genomes of fungi encode genes that enable them to thrive in diverse environments, invade plant and animal cells, and participate in nutrient cycling in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The continuously expanding databases of fungal genome sequences have been generated by individual and large-scale efforts such as Génolevures, Broad Institute's Fungal Genome Initiative, and the 1000 Fungal Genomes Project (http://1000.fungalgenomes.org). These efforts have produced a catalog of fungal genes and genomic organization. The genomic datasets can be utilized to better understand how fungi have adapted to their lifestyles and ecological niches. Large datasets of fungal genomic and transcriptomic data have enabled the use of novel methodologies and improved the study of fungal evolution from a molecular sequence perspective. Combined with microscopes, petri dishes, and woodland forays, genome sequencing supports bioinformatics and comparative genomics approaches as important tools in the study of the biology and evolution of fungi

KTO JEST PŁATNIKIEM? WARTOŚĆ PRYWATNYCH INFORMACJI Z PERSPEKTYWY KLIENTÓW I FIRM

In the knowledge-based economy data has become an important part of building  competitive advantage. The private and public sectors are demonstrating enormous interest in acquiring increasingly greater amounts of information. From growing sets of unstructured, seemingly disconnected data, one can extract information that can not only identify a given person, but also determine their demographic, socio-geographical, behavioral or mental characteristics, learn their shopping preferences, track their daily schedules and habits. In this sense, it becomes attractive to any kind of company operating online, including advertisers. On the other side of the stage there are consumers for whom private information is a resource that can be exchanged for various tangible and intangible benefits. Irrespective of the fact that some of the private information is perceived as more sensitively or more worthy than other, customers, as evidenced by numerous studies, choose money over data. The value of information depends on who owns it, who wants it, and who and how much is willing to pay for it. The aim of the paper is to present the concept of the value of private information from the perspective of customers and companies.W gospodarce opartej na wiedzy dane stały się ważnym elementem budowania przewagi konkurencyjnej. Sektor prywatny i publiczny wykazują ogromne zainteresowanie pozyskiwaniem coraz większej ilości informacji. Z rosnących zbiorów nieuporządkowanych, pozornie rozłączonych danych, można wyodrębnić informacje, które mogą nie tylko zidentyfikować daną osobę, ale także określić jej cechy demograficzne, społeczno-geograficzne, behawioralne lub psychiczne, poznać preferencje zakupowe, śledzić ich rozkład dnia i nawyki. W tym sensie stają się one atrakcyjne dlakażdego rodzaju firmy działającej online, w tym dla reklamodawców. Po drugiej stronie znajdują się konsumenci, dla których prywatne informacje są zasobem, potencjalnie wymienialnym na różne materialne i niematerialne korzyści. Niezależnie od faktu, że niektóre prywatne informacje są postrzegane jako bardziej wrażliwe lub bardziej wartościowe niż inne, klienci, o czym świadczą liczne badania, bardziej cenią pieniądze niż prywatność danych. Wartość informacji zależy od tego, kto jest jej właścicielem, kto o nią pyta i ile chce za nią zapłacić. Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie koncepcji wartości prywatnych informacji z perspektywy klientów i firm

Early Diverging Insect-Pathogenic Fungi of the Order Entomophthorales Possess Diverse and Unique Subtilisin-Like Serine Proteases.

Insect-pathogenic fungi use subtilisin-like serine proteases (SLSPs) to degrade chitin-associated proteins in the insect procuticle. Most insect-pathogenic fungi in the order Hypocreales (Ascomycota) are generalist species with a broad host-range, and most species possess a high number of SLSPs. The other major clade of insect-pathogenic fungi is part of the subphylum Entomophthoromycotina (Zoopagomycota, formerly Zygomycota) which consists of high host-specificity insect-pathogenic fungi that naturally only infect a single or very few host species. The extent to which insect-pathogenic fungi in the order Entomophthorales rely on SLSPs is unknown. Here we take advantage of recently available transcriptomic and genomic datasets from four genera within Entomophthoromycotina: the saprobic or opportunistic pathogens Basidiobolus meristosporus, Conidiobolus coronatus, C. thromboides, C. incongruus, and the host-specific insect pathogens Entomophthora muscae and Pandora formicae, specific pathogens of house flies (Muscae domestica) and wood ants (Formica polyctena), respectively. In total 154 SLSP from six fungi in the subphylum Entomophthoromycotina were identified: E. muscae (n = 22), P. formicae (n = 6), B. meristosporus (n = 60), C. thromboides (n = 18), C. coronatus (n = 36), and C. incongruus (n = 12). A unique group of 11 SLSPs was discovered in the genomes of the obligate biotrophic fungi E. muscae, P. formicae and the saprobic human pathogen C. incongruus that loosely resembles bacillopeptidase F-like SLSPs. Phylogenetics and protein domain analysis show this class represents a unique group of SLSPs so far only observed among Bacteria, Oomycetes and early diverging fungi such as Cryptomycota, Microsporidia, and Entomophthoromycotina. This group of SLSPs is missing in the sister fungal lineages of Kickxellomycotina and the fungal phyla Mucoromyocta, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota fungi suggesting interesting gene loss patterns