Consequences of "zombie-making" and generalist fungal pathogens on carpenter ant microbiota.

The bacterial microbiome of the ant has been well characterized across body regions and maturation levels. However, potential effects of entomopathogens on the gut microbiome, and the fungal communities therein, are yet to be assessed. Additionally, the mycobiome remains often overlooked despite playing a vital role in gut ecology with potential implications for health and infection outcomes. We characterized the effects of two entomopathogens with different infection strategies on the gut micro- and mycobiota of over time; and Specialist, 'zombie-making' fungi hijack the behavior of ants over three weeks, leading them to find an elevated position and fix themselves in place with their mandibles. This summiting behavior is adaptive to as the ant transports the fungus to conditions that favor fruiting body development, spore production, dispersal, and transmission. In contrast, the generalist entomopathogen infects and kills the ant within a few days, without the induction of obvious fungus-adaptive behaviors. By comparing healthy ants with and infected ants we aimed to 1) describe the dynamics of the micro- and mycobiome of during infection and 2) determine if the effects on gut microbiota are distinctive between fungi that have different infection strategies. While did not measurably affect the ant host micro-and mycobiome, did, especially for the mycobiome. Moreover, ants that were sampled during -adaptive summiting behavior had a significantly different micro- and mycobiome composition compared to healthy controls and those sampled before and after manipulation took place. This suggests that the host microbiome might have a role to play in the manipulation strategy of .