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Check Hayden E. Fungus farmers show way to new drugs. Nature [Internet]. 2009 Mar 29 [cited 2009 Sept 29]. doi:10.1038/458561a. Available from: http://www.nature.com.mutex.gmu.edu/news/2009/090329/full/458561a.html

Leaf-cutting ants have a symbiotic relationship with fungus. They grow their own fungus gardens which give the fungus a good place to live and provide food for the ants. Research has shown that microbes that live in these fungus gardens may help to develop or enhance antibiotics and biofuels.
Cameron Currie, a microbial ecologist from the University of Toronto discovered the microbe actinomycete bacteria on the ants’ bodies. The bacteria secretes an antibiotic that helps to protect the cultivated fungus from a competing parasitic fungus. This particular bacterium suppresses the growth of yeast infections that affect people. Another area of study related to these ants is the study of how the fungus breaks down the plant material the ants supply. In lab situations, fungus cannot break down cellulose. If researchers can figure that mystery out, more efficient biofuels may be produced. Through the study, they discovered that there are many bacteria that can break down cellulose, and they found an enzyme made by the fungus that can also break down cellulose. All of this still leaves the question of why can’t we reproduce this in a lab setting? Scientists believe that it is likely a set of several organisms living in a symbiotic natural setting that allow this breakdown of cellulose.