| Grant number: | 17/19718-0 |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor |
| Start date: | April 02, 2018 |
| End date: | April 01, 2019 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology |
| Principal Investigator: | Odair Correa Bueno |
| Grantee: | Silvana Beani Poiani |
| Supervisor: | Pavel Hyrsl |
| Host Institution: | Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil |
| Institution abroad: | Masaryk University, Czech Republic |
| Associated to the scholarship: | 16/18916-0 - Microscopy as a tool for cellular alterations evaluation of leaf-cutting ants exposed to non-specific agrochemicals: analysis at ultrastructural level and confocal microscope, BP.PD |
Abstract Leafcutter ants can be a serious agricultural pest, defoliating crops and damaging roads and farmland with their nest-making activities. The chemical control is still the most common strategy to minimize the damage caused by these ants. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated as products of normal cellular metabolic activities and also produced in response to a variety of exogenous agents including xenobiotics. In disproportional rates, ROS cause lipid peroxidation, protein carbonylation, DNA oxidation, and glutathione depletion. The use of pesticides leads to unbalanced ROS production by some tissue cells such as fat body cells. The study of the enzymes involved in protecting cells from the damaging effects of ROS is relevant to evaluate the effects of the pesticides in the organism and the defense system. The purpose of this project is to evaluate and compare the effects of different xenobiotics including traditional pesticides and alternative metallic-insecticide derived from natural product also effective in ant control on antioxidant enzymes. The major enzymatic antioxidants are superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione S-transferase and reduced/oxidized glutathione system. For this purpose, media workers of Atta sexdens rubropilosa will be treated with different xenobiotics and the fat body will be dissected to enzyme activities analysis. The results will both shed light on the antioxidant defense system and contribute to develop alternative forms to control ants in order to replace traditional pesticides for those of rapid degradation, high specificity and minimize the social and environmental impact of the insecticidal activity. (AU) | |
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