关键词: 红火蚁, 球孢白僵菌, 蛋白质含量, 接种, 虫态

Abstract:

In order to understand the physiological and biochemical mechanism that Beauveria bassiana successfully infected the red imported fire ant (RIFA), Solenopsis invicta, the protein content in infected adults, larvae and pupae of RIFA was determined in the laboratory. Following fungal infections, the protein content varied in different developmental stages of infected RIFA. At 12-72 h after inoculation, the protein content in worker body reached as high as 47.12 mg/g at 24 h, showing significant difference from control group (56.40 mg/g)(P＜0.05), and then dropped to 25.16 mg/g at 72 h. The highest protein content of 24.13 mg/g was observed in larval body at 36 h after inoculation. After that, the protein content in larval body decreased, and was 8.95 mg/g at 72 h after inoculation, which was dramatically lower than that of the control (24.80 mg/g). Protein content in pupae infected by B. bassiana dropped from 36.57 mg/g at 12 h to 10.42 mg/g at 72 h after inoculation, which was significantly lower than that of the control (38.61 mg/g)(P＜0.05). These results showed that the protein content in different developmental stages of RIFA treated with B. bassiana declined dramatically.

Key words: Solenopsis invicta, Beauveria bassiana, protein content, fungal infection, developmental stage