Silva-Junior, Eduardo A.Ruzzini, Antonio C.Paludo, Camila R.Nascimento, Fabio S.Currie, Cameron R.Clardy, JonPupo, Mônica T.2018-03-202018Silva-Junior, Eduardo A., Antonio C. Ruzzini, Camila R. Paludo, Fabio S. Nascimento, Cameron R. Currie, Jon Clardy, and Mônica T. Pupo. 2018. “Pyrazines from bacteria and ants: convergent chemistry within an ecological niche.” Scientific Reports 8 (1): 2595. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-20953-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20953-6.http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:35014955Ants use pheromones to coordinate their communal activity. Volatile pyrazines, for instance, mediate food resource gathering and alarm behaviors in different ant species. Here we report that leaf-cutter ant-associated bacteria produce a family of pyrazines that includes members previously identified as ant trail and alarm pheromones. We found that L-threonine induces the bacterial production of the trail pheromone pyrazines, which are common for the host leaf-cutter ants. Isotope feeding experiments revealed that L-threonine along with sodium acetate were the biosynthetic precursors of these natural products and a biosynthetic pathway was proposed.en-USJournal Article2018-03-2010.1038/s41598-018-20953-6