{
  "abstract": "Bark and ambrosia beetles are associated with various filamentous fungi, whose roles range from mutualists to antagonists. Mutualists can provide various benefits and are typically selectively dispersed by these wood-boring beetles. However, it is currently unknown how such bark and ambrosia beetles distinguish their fungal mutualists from other fungal associates, including insect pathogens. We hypothesized that volatile organic compounds might help maintain the mutualisms between beetles and specific fungal partners. Here, we compared the volatiles emitted by 30 fungi known to act as mutualists, commensals or antagonists for their beetle hosts. GC-MS analysis showed that all the fungi had characteristic volatile profiles with beneficial fungi emitting a greater diversity of volatiles than other fungal species. The volatile profiles of beneficial fungi were dominated by aliphatic and aromatic alcohols and esters in terms of both diversity and abundance. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the larvae and adults of two ambrosia beetle species can distinguish their mutualistic fungi from others based on volatile cues. Our results highlight the importance of aliphatic and aromatic alcohols and esters as recognition cues for mutualist fungi by wood-boring beetles. Volatiles likely play key roles in maintaining beetle associations with fungi that are essential to their insect host.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Department of Biochemistry, Jena, 07745, Germany.",
    "Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, 22362, Sweden.",
    "Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Technical University of Munich, Freising, 85354, Germany.",
    "Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Catania, 95123, Italy.",
    "Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, 07745, Germany.",
    "Department of Zoology and Entomology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0083,South Africa.",
    "Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, 16500, Czech Republic.",
    "Department of Forest Entomology and Protection, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79085, Germany."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Maximilian Lehenberger",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9097-9715"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Dineshkumar Kandasamy"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Pascal Edelmann"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Michael Reichelt",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6691-6500"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Giulio Criscione"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Pamela Lehenberger"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Almuth Hammerbacher",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0262-2634"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Jonathan Gershenzon",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1812-1551"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Peter H W Biedermann"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7w26f230jqtyd.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1093/femsec/fiag115",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13673984",
  "id": "7w26f230jqtyd",
  "issns": [
    "0168-6496",
    "1574-6941"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42833633",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2303|Forest Insect Ecology and Management"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220743769",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13673984?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13673984",
  "pmid": "42833633",
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7w26f230jqtyd.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:10Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42833633",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42833633"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2303|Forest Insect Ecology and Management",
      "subfield": "ecology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Bark and ambrosia beetle fungi emit a greater diversity of volatile organic compounds than other fungi.",
  "title_text": "Bark and ambrosia beetle fungi emit a greater diversity of volatile organic compounds than other fungi.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:10Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7w26f230jqtyd",
  "venue": "FEMS microbiology ecology",
  "versions": []
}