Abstract The fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, is an economically important invasive pest ant, causing over 6 billion dollars in control and repair costs each year in the United States. The fire ant is becoming a global problem increasing its importance and the need for the development of biologically-based control methods. The PBAN/pyrokinin gene is ubiquitous to insects and produces 4-5 neuropeptides that play critical roles in insect development and in reproduction. The most well studied function is regulation of moth pheromone biosynthesis through the Pheromone Biosynthesis Activating Neuropeptide, PBAN. The fire ant is one of the most studied social insects and over the last 50 years a great deal has been learned about the behaviors and chemistry of pheromone communication in this ant. However, virtually nothing is known about the regulation of these pheromone systems. We review here our research to date on the PBAN/pyrokinin gene and the fire ant in preparation for determining the function of the product neuropeptides in brood development and in adults. We discuss the following: a) PBAN/Pyrokinin peptides in fire ants; b) PBAN immunocytochemistry and the fire ant central nervous system (CNS); c) Identification of PBAN/pyrokinin neuropeptides from S. invicta and other Solenopsis species; and d) PBAN/Pyrokinin gene expression in the head, thorax and abdomen of S. invicta. These studies help lay the ground-work for the utilization of the PBAN/pyrokinin gene/peptide product system for novel biologically-based fire ant control.
摘要 入侵紅火蟻Solenopsis invicta是經濟上重要的入侵害蟲，在美國每年花費超過六百萬美元進行火蟻的防治與補救。火蟻顯然已成為全球性的問題，使其重要性日益增加且亟需發展生物防治。昆蟲體內普遍存在PBAN/Pyrokinin基因，其產生4-5種神經肽對於昆蟲的發育與生殖扮演關鍵性的角色。目前關於費洛蒙生合成活化神經肽 (PBAN) 的功能，以蛾類費洛蒙生合成的調節研究最深入。而火蟻是社會性昆蟲中研究最多的物種之一，且在過去五十年對於其行為以及費洛蒙溝通的化學組成已有大量的研究，然而我們仍不清楚此費洛蒙系統對於火蟻的調節。在此我們將綜述直至今日關於PBAN/Pyrokinin基因與火蟻的相關研究，以確定神經肽產物在幼體發育和在成體上的功能。我們將討論以下內容：(1) 火蟻的PBAN/Pyrokinin肽；(2) PBAN免疫細胞化學染色法和火蟻的中樞神經系統 (CNS)；(3) 辨別入侵紅火蟻S. invicta與其他火家蟻屬Solenopsis火蟻的PBAN/Pyrokinin神經肽；(4) 在入侵紅火蟻S. invicta頭部、胸部和腹部PBAN/Pyrokinin基因的表現。這些研究將有助於建立PBAN/Pyrokinin基因/肽產物系統之基礎，並將可利用在新的火蟻生物防治上。
| Key words: fire ant, Solenopsis, PBAN, neuropeptide, gene expression, immunocytochemistry | | 關鍵詞: 火蟻、火家蟻屬、費洛蒙生合成活化神經肽、神經肽、基因表現、免疫細胞化學染色法。 |
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