Biochemical differences between the virgin queens and workers of the Ant, Camponotus maculatus (Fabricius)

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Entomology , Faculty of Science , Ain Shams Univ., Cairo , Egypt.

Abstract

The present data showed that the activities of all the tested enzymes except acetylcholinesterase (α,β-esterases, acid phosphatase and  glutathione S-transeferase)were significantly higher in the whole body homogenates of the virgin queens ant, Camponotus maculatus (Fabricius) than that recorded for the workers. Also, the concentration of total soluble proteins of the virgin queens was higher than of workers. These proteins were electrophoretically separated into 22 bands (258.6 to 35.4KDa) in the virgin queen samples while they were separated into 19 bands (216.7 to 35.4KDa) in the worker samples. Ten protein bands were common between the two castes (108.1, 103.9, 99.8, 94.6, 63.7, 61.3, 55.9, 48.1, 40.6 and 35.4KDa) and the remaining bands were characteristic for each caste .Finally, there was difference in the genomic DNA of the two studied castes.

Keywords