Ascunce Marina S, Kassu Gebreyes, Bouwma Andrew, Reed David L, Briano Juan, Oi David H, Shoemaker DeWayne
USDA-ARS, Fire Ant Unit, Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology (CMAVE), Gainesville, FL 32608, USA.
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Insects. 2023 Nov 21;14(12):901. doi: 10.3390/insects14120901.
Microsporidia are natural pathogens of arthropods and have been used as biological control against insect pests. In the United States, efforts to control the invasive Red Imported Fire Ant, , and Black Imported Fire Ant, , have included the use of the microsporidium, . However, there is limited information about the genetic differences among the microsporidian variants found in and in . In this study, we assessed the prevalence and genetic diversity of in native populations of in Argentina (South America). Additionally, we examined the social parasitic ant, , which is found in some nests, for the presence of this microsporidium. The survey of 219 nests revealed infections in all five sites analyzed, with 28 colonies (12.8%) positive for the microsporidium. Among the 180 individuals collected, seven ants (3.9%) from three sites tested positive for . Phylogenetic analyses of the microsporidian variants present in and based on partial small subunit ribosomal gene sequences (SSU rRNA) showed that both ant species shared the same variant, which is different from the ones found in . Further studies are needed to determine the pathogenicity of genetically different variants among species.
微孢子虫是节肢动物的天然病原体，已被用作防治害虫的生物制剂。在美国，控制入侵红火蚁和黑火蚁的措施包括使用微孢子虫。然而，关于在红火蚁和黑火蚁中发现的微孢子虫变体之间的遗传差异的信息有限。在本研究中，我们评估了阿根廷（南美洲）本土红火蚁种群中微孢子虫的流行情况和遗传多样性。此外，我们检查了在一些红火蚁巢穴中发现的社会性寄生蚁——黑火蚁，以确定其是否存在这种微孢子虫。对219个红火蚁巢穴的调查显示，在所有分析的五个地点都发现了感染情况，有28个蚁群（12.8%）的微孢子虫呈阳性。在收集的180只红火蚁个体中，来自三个地点的七只蚂蚁（3.9%）的微孢子虫检测呈阳性。基于部分小亚基核糖体基因序列（SSU rRNA）对红火蚁和黑火蚁中存在的微孢子虫变体进行的系统发育分析表明，这两种蚂蚁共享相同的变体，这与在其他地方发现的变体不同。需要进一步研究来确定红火蚁物种中遗传不同的微孢子虫变体的致病性。
