| Title: | Cuticular Hydrocarbon Profiling by Fractionation and GC-MS in Socially Parasitic Ants |
| Address: | "Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, Tsuruoka, Japan. Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Tsuruoka, Japan. Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2331-8325 (Electronic) 2331-8325 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Ants use cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) as a semiochemical for recognizing their nestmates. For socially parasitic ants, deceiving the CHC is an important survival strategy. Profiling and quantifying CHC is a potent approach to understanding such nestmate discrimination behavior. Thus, a highly efficient, stable, and reproducible extraction method for CHC is essential for this purpose. This paper describes a method for socially parasitic ants to disguise the host species' CHC profile under laboratory conditions, as well as the extraction and measurement of CHC from ants (from a previous study). First, the artificial isotopic substance is applied to the host worker; then, the socially parasitic ant disguises the host-like CHC profile against the above host worker. Next, the CHC is extracted and fractionated from a socially parasitic ant using hexane and silica gel. After concentrating the fractionated product, this product is then used for measurement by gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GC-MS). The CHC extraction protocol described in this paper may be used for various ant species" |
| Keywords: | Ant Chemical disguise Cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) Gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GCMS) Myrmecology Semiochemical Social insect Social parasite; |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINEIwai, Hironori Kono, Nobuaki eng 2023/07/17 Bio Protoc. 2023 Jul 5; 13(13):e4772. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.4772. eCollection 2023 Jul 5" |
