Fungus-Growing Ant's Microbial Interaction of Streptomyces sp. and Escovopsis sp. through Molecular Networking and MALDI Imaging

Microbes associated with fungus-growing ants represent a poorly explored source of natural products. In this study, we used mass spectrometry-based dereplication techniques for identifying a set of secondary metabolites produced during the microbial interaction between Streptomyces sp. (CB0028) and Escovopsis sp. (CBAcro424). Both microorganisms were isolated from the nest of the fungus-growing ant Acromyrmex echinatior. Through MALDI imaging and MS/MS molecular networking, we annotated the siderophores: desferrioxamine B (1), ferrioxamine B (2), ferrioxamine E (3) and the N-formylated peptide SCO-2138/SLI-2138 (4). MALDI imaging experiments suggest that siderophores occurred during the microbial interactions in the fungus-growing ants – microbes symbioses. This is the first report on the production of compounds 1-4 by bacteria associated with fungus-growing ants.