Expressed sequence tags from Atta laevigata and identification of candidate genes for the control of pest leaf-cutting ants.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Leafcutters are the highest evolved within Neotropical ants in the tribe Attini and model systems for studying caste formation, labor division and symbiosis with microorganisms. Some species of leafcutters are agricultural pests controlled by chemicals which affect other animals and accumulate in the environment. Aiming to provide genetic basis for the study of leafcutters and for the development of more specific and environmentally friendly methods for the control of pest leafcutters, we generated expressed sequence tag data from Atta laevigata, one of the pest ants with broad geographic distribution in South America.

Results

The analysis of the expressed sequence tags allowed us to characterize 2,006 unique sequences in Atta laevigata. Sixteen of these genes had

SUBMITTER: Rodovalho CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3132717 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature