What is it about?
A new method to extract venom proteins from fire ants is devised. It can be easily adapted to extract whole nests of live ants. So simple we were surprised nobody had described this before. Firstly you excavate the fire ant nest off the ground into a bucket they cannot escape from (e.g. anti-adherent , rimmed with talc). The bucket is slowly flooded with dripping water, so that the ants will leave the soil to form a floating raft (this takes about 3h). Meantime you prepare a clean, glass recipient containing about 5:1 apolar organic solvent and clean water; We have employed hexane, but any immiscible solvent should work. When the raft is formed, take the ants off the water, and either allow them to clean and dry up first (in a separate recipient) or directly drop them into the solvent. The ants will die in second, displaying violent stinging behavior. They will sting into the solvent, resulting in venom proteins being captured in the water phase. Finally, siphon off and centrifuge the lower watery phase, and you're fire ant allergen solution is ready. To purify venom allergens, proceed to either cold acetone precipitation or lyophilisation. As much as 15 mg of venom proteins can be obtained from a fire ant nest, within 1 working day!
Featured Image
Photo by Adrien Olichon on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Extracting venom allergens from insects is typically very hard, work-heavy, time-consuming, and depending on dedicated expertise and structure. Our presented method is so simple it can be applied with minimal skills and lab structure. Fire ant venom proteins have remained poorly studied for decades because of the difficulties in obtaining them naturally. The method empowers labs to bioassay the sample locally wherever fire ants are available.
Perspectives
This method for venom extract has just been applied to validate the allergenicity of fire ant venom in mice, see the paper published below: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32327-z Other immediate developments are: (i) identifying bioactive venom fractions; (ii) isolating key allergens; (iii) designing adaptations for human use in immunotherapy; (iv) transferring the method to other stinging insects.
Dr Eduardo G P Fox
IBCCF / UFRJ
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A simple, rapid method for the extraction of whole fire ant venom (Insecta: Formicidae: Solenopsis), Toxicon, April 2013, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2012.12.009.
You can read the full text:
Resources
The allergic response mediated by fire ant venom proteins
Publication employing the method in establishing the allergenicity of fire ant venom proteins.
Another paper on fire venom extraction
Some colleagues made this extraction analysis , focusing on alkaloids.
Awesome related research, from colleagues
These fellows isolated a major allergen from a similar protein extract of fire ant venoms, and went deep into the biochemistry.
"Precioso Veneno" [IN PORTUGUESE -- Interview for a press magazine in Brazil]
First author gives personal views in an interview for a major science press magazine in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Contributors
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