Newfound Protein
May Help Control
Fire Ants
By Sharon Omahen Georgia Agricultural Experiment
Stations
University of Georgia scientists
have discovered a protein in fire
ants that may lead to a new way
of using their own biology
against them.
The protein is linked to red im
ported fire ants' senses of smell
and taste. "We discovered two
variants of a protein found in fire
ants and noticed that one was
found only in multiple-queen
colonies," said Ken Ross, an en
tomologist with the UGA Col
lege of Agricultural and Environ
mental Sciences.
"That's what piqued our inter
est two and a half years ago,"
Ross said. "It made us wonder
whether this protein could affect
the social behavior and structure
of the colony."
To unravel the mysteries of this
unfamiliar protein, UGA sought
funding from the National Sci
ence Foundation and hired
Michael Krieger, an evolution
biologist from the University of
Lausanne in Switzerland.
Krieger, an expert in the mo
lecular biology of ants, began
working to sequence the protein
gene.
"I isolated the protein and used
this information to determine the
DNA sequence of the gene,"
Krieger said. "Once I got the
gene, then we could really get to
work."
Krieger and Ross cross-refer
enced the protein's DNA with
other DNA sequences in a na
tional data bank.
"We were able to find similar
proteins, and that's how we de
duced that this particular protein
is a type of odorant-binding pro
tein," Ross said.
The DNA sequence revealed
the protein is related to the ants'
senses of taste and smell. "We
found that this protein allows the
ant to capture odors from its en
vironment and transport them to
the neuroreceptor," Krieger said.
"Basically, it helps the ant sense
its environment."
Ants use their senses of smell
and taste to regulate the number
of queens in colonies and regu
late the social structure.
"We don't know how the pro-
The Lee County Ledger, Thursday, November 29, 2001 - Page 3B
tein affects the abilities of differ
ent ants to smell and taste," Ross
said. "But we know the ants
smell and taste queens, recognize
them individually and either ac
cept or don't accept them as egg-
laying queens. And nowwe've
discovered a protein that is likely
involved in this process."
As with most scientific re
search, the outcome could have
been much different.
"It could have turned out to be
a protein that regulates the num
bers of segments in the ants' an
tenna and that wouldn't have
been useful," Ross said. "As it
turned out, it made perfect sense.
This doesn't rule out that there
are other genes involved in the
ants' sensory process. There are
likely to be. But this one is very
important in terms of regulating
the social behavior."
Ross admits this was a risky
project
"The probability of finding the
gene that codes for this protein
was actually very low, so we're
very pleased that it turned out,"
he said. "There are a lot of things
that could have gone wrong. But,
after all, we got the funding from
NSF because this project was a
risky one."
To continue research into the
protein's potential, Ross and
Krieger need more time and
more funding. "It could be
applied as a pest control method
if we can bind an artificial com
pound that competes with the
natural pheromone, interrupting
the ants' senses," said Krieger.
"This way we could make the
ants see and smell queens that
aren't there by sending them false
signals. This would disturb the
whole social organization."
If the ants smelled the presence
of too many queens, Krieger
said, they would get agitated and
begin killing other ants in the
colony. The researchers also
found the newly identified gene
in other fire ants found in South
American and the United States.
"It's a rather general phenom
enon we've found in fire ants, but
it has unbelievable potential,"
said Ross.
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