OEB Seminar Series

Corrie Moreau
Field Museum of Natural History
"Ants, plants, and bacteria: Symbiosis as a driver of evolutionary diversification"
Host: OEB Graduate Students

Abstract:  To fully understand the macroevolutionary factors that have promoted the diversification and persistence of biological diversity varied tools and disciplines must be integrated.  By combining data from several fields including molecular phylogenetics/phylogenomics, comparative genomics, biogeographic range reconstruction, stable isotope analyses, and microbial community sequencing to study the evolutionary history of the insects, we are beginning to understand the drivers of speciation and the interconnectedness of life.  Molecular phylogenetic analyses are providing a stable framework for the ant tree of life and divergence dating suggests that the ants originated ~140 million years ago and diversified after the rise of the angiosperms (Moreau et al. 2006; Moreau 2009; Moreau & Bell 2011; Moreau & Bell 2013).  Biogeographic range reconstruction suggests that the Neotropics were historically (museum) and continue (cradle) to be an important geographic region for the evolution of the ants (Moreau & Bell 2013).  Comparative genomics has permitted the exploration of the role of symbiosis on genome evolution and behavioral gene evolution (Rubin & Moreau 2016) demonstrating that Red Queen dynamics are at play in obligate mutualisms.  While studies combining stable isotope analysis to infer the trophic ecology of the ants and next-generation sequencing of gut-associated bacteria of ants highlight the importance of this microbiome association in the evolution of herbivory (Russell, Moreau et al. 2009; Kautz et al. 2013).  These multiple lines of evidence are illuminating a more complete picture of ant evolution and providing novel insights into the role that symbiosis plays to promote biological diversity.