Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, CCS, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Cidade Universitária, 21941-902, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Micron. 2013 Jan;44:120-4. doi: 10.1016/j.micron.2012.05.008. Epub 2012 Jun 7.
Amorphous mineral granules are formed by concentric mineral layers containing polyphosphate, pyrophosphate and/or orthophosphate and several metallic cations such as Mg(2+), Ca(2+), K(+), Mn(2+), Fe(3+), Cu(2+), and Zn(2+). In this work, we analyzed amorphous mineral granules isolated from the ant species Camponotus abdominalis, Camponotus sp., Acromyrmex subterraneus and Pachycondyla marginata by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. The elemental composition of the granules was compared to that of mineral particles, probably soil particles, to access the influence of the environment and of specific characteristics of each ant species in the elemental composition of the amorphous mineral granules. Both the granules and mineral particles presented Mg, Ca, Fe, and Zn in the four species. Additionally, Al tended to be present in both (or none) of the two types of material in a given ant species, suggesting that the aluminum found in the amorphous mineral granules could be derived from ingested soil particles. On the other hand, Sr was found in the amorphous mineral granules of some of the studied ant species, but not in the mineral particles. The fact that 3/4 of the elements found in the granules were found also in the mineral particles suggests that the mineral composition of the soil plays a fundamental role in the accumulation of some elements in the amorphous mineral granules of ants. These results suggest a major role of soil particles as a source of micronutrients for the four ant species.
无定形矿物颗粒是由含有多磷酸盐、焦磷酸盐和/或正磷酸盐以及几种金属阳离子（如 Mg(2+)、Ca(2+)、K(+)、Mn(2+)、Fe(3+)、Cu(2+)和 Zn(2+)）的同心矿物层形成的。在这项工作中，我们通过能量色散 X 射线分析分析了从蚂蚁物种 Camponotus abdominalis、Camponotus sp.、Acromyrmex subterraneus 和 Pachycondyla marginata 中分离出的无定形矿物颗粒。将颗粒的元素组成与可能来自土壤颗粒的矿物颗粒的元素组成进行了比较，以了解环境和每个蚂蚁物种的特定特征对无定形矿物颗粒中元素组成的影响。在这四个物种中，颗粒和矿物颗粒都含有 Mg、Ca、Fe 和 Zn。此外，Al 倾向于存在于给定蚂蚁物种的两种类型的材料中的一种（或都不存在），这表明在无定形矿物颗粒中发现的铝可能来自摄入的土壤颗粒。另一方面，Sr 存在于一些研究蚂蚁物种的无定形矿物颗粒中，但不存在于矿物颗粒中。在颗粒中发现的 3/4 的元素也存在于矿物颗粒中，这表明土壤的矿物组成对蚂蚁无定形矿物颗粒中某些元素的积累起着至关重要的作用。这些结果表明，土壤颗粒在为这四个蚂蚁物种提供微量元素方面起着主要作用。
