Esterase in Imported Fire Ants, Solenopsis invicta and S. richteri (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Activity, Kinetics and Variation

Abstract

Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri are two closely related invasive ants native to South America. Despite their similarity in biology and behavior, S. invicta is a more successful invasive species. Toxic tolerance has been found to be important to the success of some invasive species. Esterases play a crucial role in toxic tolerance of insects. Hence, we hypothesized that the more invasive S. invicta would have a higher esterase activity than S. richteri. Esterase activities were measured for workers and male and female alates of both ant species using α-naphthyl acetate and β-naphthyl acetate as substrates. Esterase activities in S. invicta were always significantly higher than those in S. richteri supporting our hypothesis. In S. invicta, male alates had the highest esterase activities followed by workers then female alates for both substrates. In S. richetri, for α-naphthyl acetate, male alates had the highest activity followed by female alates then workers, while for β-naphthyl acetate, female alates had the highest activity followed by male alates then workers. For workers, S. richteri showed significantly higher levels of variation about the mean esterase activity than S. invicta. However, S. invicta showed significantly higher levels of variation in both female and male alates.

Transcriptome analysis reveals differential effects of beta-cypermethrin and fipronil insecticides on detoxification mechanisms in Solenopsis invicta

“…Various detoxifying xenobiotics function as detoxification enzymes in insects, including AChE, CarE, GST, and CYPs, which are responsible for resistance development. Because ants regularly contact toxins, high detoxification enzyme activity must be critical to their survival ( Chen et al, 2014 ; Zhang et al, 2016a ; Zhang et al, 2016b ; Siddiqui et al, 2022b ).…”

Nutrition of Borneo's ‘exploding’ ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae:Colobopsis): a preliminary assessment

“…For protein extraction, we treated samples as described by Chen et al . () and placed them independently in 1 ml of 40 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) with 0.02% Triton X‐100 and incubated them on ice in a shaker at 170 rpm for 2 h. After extraction, samples were centrifuged for 10 min at 4°C and 17968 × g. We used supernatants of centrifuged samples to determine protein concentrations (mg/ml; procedure of Bradford ) and molecular masses by SDS‐PAGE analysis. We added 20 μ l of supernatant to 200 μ l of Coomassie Blue solution (1 ml concentrated Coomassie Blue [BioRad, Hercules, California, U.S.A.] in 4 ml of ddH 2 0) in assigned wells of microtiter plates.…”

“…Immediately after dissection, samples were homogenized in liquid N to fine powder with small mortars and pestles. For protein extraction, we treated samples as described by Chen et al (2014) and placed them independently in 1 ml of 40 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) with 0.02% Triton X-100 and incubated them on ice in a shaker at 170 rpm for 2 h. After extraction, samples were centrifuged for 10 min at 4°C and 17968 9 g. We used supernatants of centrifuged samples to determine protein concentrations (mg/ml; procedure of Bradford 1976) Size spectra of separated proteins were compared across samples run on SDS-PAGE. Two analyses, one at 15% and another at 12% acrilamide concentrations (better resolving small proteins), were carried out on samples (c), (d), and (e) only.…”

A comprehensive review on the documented characteristics of four Reticulitermes termites (Rhinotermitidae, Blattodea) of China

“…The resultant progeny from hybridization have dominant effects and promote species dispersion in a wide range in few regions, such an example came from the two invasive fire ant species (Solenopsis richteri×S. invicta) in the Southern United States where they established a fully hybrid zone now (Gibbons and Simberloff, 2005;Chen et al, 2015) and another one from the subspecies of A. mellifera (European honey bee × Africanized honey bee) became trouble for human population in South and North part of America (Schneider et al, 2004;Jensen et al, 2005;Vanengelsdorp and Meixner, 2010).…”