Bernardi R C, Firmino E L B, Pereira M C, Andrade L H C, Cardoso C A L, Súarez Y R, Antonialli-Junior W F, Lima S M
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Recursos Naturais, Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul, Dourados, MS, Brasil.
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Entomologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados, Dourados, MS, Brasil.
Genet Mol Res. 2014 Nov 28;13(4):10035-48. doi: 10.4238/2014.November.28.8.
The cuticular chemical composition plays a significant role in the recognition of nest mates in social insects, thus functioning as a chemical signature of the colony. The structure of cuticular chemicals is subject to interference from genetic and exogenous factors, including diet. In this study, various colonies of the Ectatomma brunneum ant were removed from their natural environment and housed in a laboratory to monitor the response of the cuticular chemical composition to dietary changes. Analyses were performed using gas chromatography and Fourier transform infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy, which has not been previously used for this type of analysis. The results indicate that this method is useful for analyzing biological and natural systems. We observed changes in the chemical signature with food traces in the first 30 days under feed control. Therefore, genetic information may not be the only criterion that can be used to describe the chemical signature of a species; environmental variations also influence recognition signals. Furthermore, these results reinforce the reliability of the Fourier transform infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy method.
表皮化学成分在社会性昆虫识别巢伴中起着重要作用，因此作为蚁群的化学信号。表皮化学物质的结构会受到包括饮食在内的遗传和外源因素的干扰。在本研究中，将多个布氏举腹蚁蚁群从自然环境中移出并安置在实验室中，以监测表皮化学成分对饮食变化的反应。使用气相色谱法和傅里叶变换红外光声光谱法进行分析，该方法此前尚未用于此类分析。结果表明该方法可用于分析生物和自然系统。我们观察到在饲料控制下的前30天内，化学信号随食物痕迹发生了变化。因此，遗传信息可能不是描述一个物种化学信号的唯一标准；环境变化也会影响识别信号。此外，这些结果增强了傅里叶变换红外光声光谱法的可靠性。
