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Sozanski K, do Prado LP, Mularo AJ, Sadowski VA, Jones TH, Adams RMM. Venom Function of a New Species of Megalomyrmex Forel, 1885 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Toxins (Basel) 2020; 12:E679. [PMID: 33137918 PMCID: PMC7693960 DOI: 10.3390/toxins12110679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2020] [Revised: 10/20/2020] [Accepted: 10/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Alkaloids are important metabolites found across a variety of organisms with diverse ecological functions. Of particular interest are alkaloids found in ants, organisms well known for dominating the ecosystems they dwell in. Within ants, alkaloids are found in venom and function as potent weapons against heterospecific species. However, research is often limited to pest species or species with parasitic lifestyles and thus fails to address the broader ecological function of ant venom alkaloids. Here we describe a new species of free-living Megalomyrmex ant: Megalomyrmex peetersi sp. n. In addition, we identify its singular venom alkaloid (trans-2-butyl-5-heptylpyrrolidine) and elucidate the antibiotic and insecticidal functions of its venom. Our results show that Megalomyrmex peetersi sp. n. venom is an effective antibiotic and insecticide. These results are comparable to venom alkaloids found in other ant species, such as Solenopsis invicta. This research provides great insight into venom alkaloid function, and it is the first study to explore these ideas in the Megalomyrmex system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyle Sozanski
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; (K.S.); (V.A.S.)
| | - Lívia Pires do Prado
- Coordenação de Ciências da Terra e Ecologia, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi 66077-830, PA, Brazil;
| | - Andrew J. Mularo
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, Indiana, IN 47907, USA;
| | - Victoria A. Sadowski
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; (K.S.); (V.A.S.)
| | - Tappey H. Jones
- Department of Chemistry, Virginia Military Institute, Virgina, VA 24450, USA;
| | - Rachelle M. M. Adams
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; (K.S.); (V.A.S.)
- Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20560, USA
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Touchard A, Aili SR, Fox EGP, Escoubas P, Orivel J, Nicholson GM, Dejean A. The Biochemical Toxin Arsenal from Ant Venoms. Toxins (Basel) 2016; 8:E30. [PMID: 26805882 PMCID: PMC4728552 DOI: 10.3390/toxins8010030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2015] [Revised: 01/07/2016] [Accepted: 01/08/2016] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Ants (Formicidae) represent a taxonomically diverse group of hymenopterans with over 13,000 extant species, the majority of which inject or spray secretions from a venom gland. The evolutionary success of ants is mostly due to their unique eusociality that has permitted them to develop complex collaborative strategies, partly involving their venom secretions, to defend their nest against predators, microbial pathogens, ant competitors, and to hunt prey. Activities of ant venom include paralytic, cytolytic, haemolytic, allergenic, pro-inflammatory, insecticidal, antimicrobial, and pain-producing pharmacologic activities, while non-toxic functions include roles in chemical communication involving trail and sex pheromones, deterrents, and aggregators. While these diverse activities in ant venoms have until now been largely understudied due to the small venom yield from ants, modern analytical and venomic techniques are beginning to reveal the diversity of toxin structure and function. As such, ant venoms are distinct from other venomous animals, not only rich in linear, dimeric and disulfide-bonded peptides and bioactive proteins, but also other volatile and non-volatile compounds such as alkaloids and hydrocarbons. The present review details the unique structures and pharmacologies of known ant venom proteinaceous and alkaloidal toxins and their potential as a source of novel bioinsecticides and therapeutic agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Axel Touchard
- CNRS, UMR Écologie des Forêts de Guyane (AgroParisTech, CIRAD, CNRS, INRA, Université de Guyane, Université des Antilles), Campus Agronomique, BP 316, Kourou Cedex 97379, France.
- BTSB (Biochimie et Toxicologie des Substances Bioactives) Université de Champollion, Place de Verdun, Albi 81012, France.
| | - Samira R Aili
- Neurotoxin Research Group, School of Medical & Molecular Biosciences, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
| | | | - Pierre Escoubas
- VenomeTech, 473 Route des Dolines-Villa 3, Valbonne 06560, France.
| | - Jérôme Orivel
- CNRS, UMR Écologie des Forêts de Guyane (AgroParisTech, CIRAD, CNRS, INRA, Université de Guyane, Université des Antilles), Campus Agronomique, BP 316, Kourou Cedex 97379, France.
| | - Graham M Nicholson
- Neurotoxin Research Group, School of Medical & Molecular Biosciences, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
| | - Alain Dejean
- CNRS, UMR Écologie des Forêts de Guyane (AgroParisTech, CIRAD, CNRS, INRA, Université de Guyane, Université des Antilles), Campus Agronomique, BP 316, Kourou Cedex 97379, France.
- Laboratoire Écologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement, 118 Route de Narbonne, Toulouse 31062, France.
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Adams RMM, Jones TH, Longino JT, Weatherford RG, Mueller UG. Alkaloid Venom Weaponry of Three Megalomyrmex Thief Ants and the Behavioral Response of Cyphomyrmex costatus Host Ants. J Chem Ecol 2015; 41:373-85. [DOI: 10.1007/s10886-015-0565-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2014] [Revised: 03/04/2015] [Accepted: 03/13/2015] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
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Mebs D, Alvarez JV, Pogoda W, Toennes SW, Köhler G. Poor alkaloid sequestration by arrow poison frogs of the genus Phyllobates from Costa Rica. Toxicon 2014; 80:73-7. [PMID: 24467995 DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2014.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2013] [Accepted: 01/14/2014] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Frogs of the genus Phyllobates from Colombia are known to contain the highly toxic alkaloid batrachotoxin, but species from Central America exhibit only very low levels or are entirely free of this toxin. In the present study alcohol extracts from 101 specimens of Phyllobates lugubris and Phyllobates vittatus and 21 of three sympatric species (Dendrobates pumilio, Dendrobates auratus, Dendrobates granuliferus) from Costa Rica were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Whereas the extracts of the Dendrobates species exhibited typical profiles of toxic alkaloids, those of the two Phyllobates species contained low levels of few alkaloids only, batrachotoxin was not detected. Although the feeding pattern of the Dendrobates and Phyllobates species are similar as revealed by examination of their stomach content (mainly ants and mites), the Phyllobates species are poorly sequestering alkaloids from their food source in contrast to the Dendrobates frogs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dietrich Mebs
- Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Frankfurt, Kennedyallee 104, D-60596 Frankfurt, Germany.
| | - Joseph Vargas Alvarez
- Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Werner Pogoda
- Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Frankfurt, Kennedyallee 104, D-60596 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Stefan W Toennes
- Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Frankfurt, Kennedyallee 104, D-60596 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Gunther Köhler
- Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt, Germany
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Daly JW, Martin Garraffo H, Spande TF, Jaramillo C, Stanley Rand A. Dietary source for skin alkaloids of poison frogs (Dendrobatidae)? J Chem Ecol 2013; 20:943-55. [PMID: 24242207 DOI: 10.1007/bf02059589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/1993] [Accepted: 12/16/1993] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
A wide range of alkaloids, many of which are unknown elsewhere in nature, occur in skin of frogs. Major classes of such alkaloids in dendrobatid frogs are the batrachotoxins, pumiliotoxins, histrionicotoxins, gephyrotoxins, and decahydroquinolines. Such alkaloids are absent in skin of frogs (Dendrobates auratus) raised in Panama on wingless fruit flies in indoor terraria. Raised on leaf-litter arthropods that were collected in a mainland site, such terraria-raised frogs contain tricyclic alkaloids including the beetle alkaloid precoccinelline, 1,4-disubstituted quinolizidines, pyrrolizidine oximes, the millipede alkaloid nitropolyzonamine, a decahydroquinoline, a gephyrotoxin, and histrionicotoxins. The profiles of these alkaloids in the captive-raised frogs are closer to the mainland population ofDendrobates auratus at the leaf-litter site than to the parent population ofDendrobates auratus from a nearby island site. Extracts of a seven-month sampling of leaf-litter insects contained precoccinelline, pyrrolizidine oxime236 (major), and nitropolyzonamine (238). The results indicate a dietary origin for at least some "dendrobatid alkaloids," in particular the pyrrolizidine oximes, the tricyclic coccinellines, and perhaps the histrionicotoxins and gephyrotoxins.
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Affiliation(s)
- J W Daly
- Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, National Institutes of Health, 20892, Bethesda, Maryland
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Adams RM, Liberti J, Illum AA, Jones TH, Nash DR, Boomsma JJ. Chemically armed mercenary ants protect fungus-farming societies. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2013; 110:15752-7. [PMID: 24019482 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1311654110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The ants are extraordinary in having evolved many lineages that exploit closely related ant societies as social parasites, but social parasitism by distantly related ants is rare. Here we document the interaction dynamics among a Sericomyrmex fungus-growing ant host, a permanently associated parasitic guest ant of the genus Megalomyrmex, and a raiding agro-predator of the genus Gnamptogenys. We show experimentally that the guest ants protect their host colonies against agro-predator raids using alkaloid venom that is much more potent than the biting defenses of the host ants. Relatively few guest ants are sufficient to kill raiders that invariably exterminate host nests without a cohabiting guest ant colony. We also show that the odor of guest ants discourages raider scouts from recruiting nestmates to host colonies. Our results imply that Sericomyrmex fungus-growers obtain a net benefit from their costly guest ants behaving as a functional soldier caste to meet lethal threats from agro-predator raiders. The fundamentally different life histories of the agro-predators and guest ants appear to facilitate their coexistence in a negative frequency-dependent manner. Because a guest ant colony is committed for life to a single host colony, the guests would harm their own interests by not defending the host that they continue to exploit. This conditional mutualism is analogous to chronic sickle cell anemia enhancing the resistance to malaria and to episodes in human history when mercenary city defenders offered either net benefits or imposed net costs, depending on the level of threat from invading armies.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Leclercq
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Free University of Brussels, Belgium
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Jones TH, DeVries PJ, Escoubas P. Chemistry of venom alkaloids in the antMegalomyrmex foreli (Myrmicinae) from Costa Rica. J Chem Ecol 1991; 17:2507-18. [PMID: 24258643 DOI: 10.1007/bf00994598] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/1991] [Accepted: 08/19/1991] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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