Fungal farming: A story of four partner evolution

摘要

Agriculture or farming can be loosely defined as the science and art of growing one’s own food. It is a science that humans have evolved some 10,000 years ago; however, a group of ants could be the first ones to invent this practice 50 million yearsago. Over time, they have perfected the technique of propagating fungi that serve as food in specialized fungal farms and keeping this farm free from any disease. There is an interesting quadripartite association between the ant, fungus, fungal parasiteand antibiotic-producing bacterium, which we are beginning to understand only recently.