Valles Steven M
Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, USDA-ARS, 1600 SW 23rd Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA.
Virology. 2023 Apr;581:81-88. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2023.03.003. Epub 2023 Mar 11.
Solenopsis invicta is an invasive ant introduced into the United States in the early 1900s. Control efforts and damage caused by this ant exceed $8 billion annually. Solenopsis invicta virus 3 (SINV-3) is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus (Solinviviridae) that is being used as a classical natural control agent for S. invicta. S. invicta colonies were exposed to purified preparations of SINV-3 to investigate the impact of the virus on the ant. Food retrieval behavior (i.e., foraging) by worker ants was significantly decreased, which led to mortality among all life stages. Queen fecundity and weight were also significantly decreased. The change in food retrieval was associated with the exhibition of an unusual behavior, whereby the remaining live ant workers wedged dead ant worker corpses into and on top of cricket carcasses (the laboratory colony food source). SINV-3 infection alters foraging behavior in S. invicta, which adversely impacts colony nutrition.
红火蚁是20世纪初引入美国的一种入侵性蚂蚁。每年因这种蚂蚁造成的防治成本和损失超过80亿美元。红火蚁病毒3（SINV-3）是一种正链单链RNA病毒（索林病毒科），正被用作控制红火蚁的一种经典的自然控制剂。将红火蚁蚁群暴露于纯化的SINV-3制剂中，以研究该病毒对蚂蚁的影响。工蚁的食物取回行为（即觅食）显著减少，这导致了所有生命阶段的死亡。蚁后的繁殖力和体重也显著下降。食物取回的变化与一种异常行为的表现有关，即剩余的活工蚁将死去的工蚁尸体楔入蟋蟀尸体（实验室蚁群的食物来源）内部和顶部。SINV-3感染改变了红火蚁的觅食行为，对蚁群营养产生了不利影响。
