Abstract
The fire ant Solenopsis invicta has received considerable attention as a damaging invasive pest. In the present study, 12 polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed from publicly available expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of S. invicta. The number of alleles varied between 3 and 12, with an average of 6.42 per locus. The observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.4167 to 1.0000 and from 0.3446 to 0.8543, respectively. These informative EST-derived microsatellite loci provide a powerful complementary tool for genetic studies of S. invicta.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Allen CR, Forys EA, Rice KG et al (2001) Effects of fire ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) on hatching turtles and prevalence of fire ants on sea turtle nesting beaches in Florida. Fla Entomol 84:250–253. doi:10.2307/3496175
Bay LK, Crozier YC, Crozier RH (2007) Isolation and characterization of eight microsatellite loci in the mangrove mud-nesting ant, Polyrhachis sokolova. Mol Ecol Notes 7:1239–1241. doi:10.1111/j.1471-8286.2007.01843.x
Benjamini Y, Liu W (1999) A distribution-free multiple test procedure that controls the false discovery rate. Department of Statistics and O. R. Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv
Callcott AMA, Collins HL (1996) Invasion and range expansion of imported fire ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in North America from 1918 to 1995. Fla Entomol 79:240–251. doi:10.2307/3495821
Du Y-Z, Gu J, Guo J-B et al (2007) Study on the potential distribution area of invasive alien pest red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren in China. Sci Agric Sin 40:99–106
Ellis JR, Burke JM (2007) EST-SSRs as a resource for population genetic analyses. Heredity 99:125–132. doi:10.1038/sj.hdy.6801001
Henshaw MT, Kunzmann N, Vanderwoude C et al (2005) Population genetics and history of the introduced fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Australia. Aust J Entomol 44:37–44. doi:10.1111/j.1440-6055.2005.00421.x
Kofler R, Schlötterer C, Lelley T (2007) SciRoKo: a new tool for whole genome microsatellite search and investigation. Bioinformatics 23:1683–1685. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btm157
Krieger MJB, Keller L (1997) Polymorphism at dinucleotide microsatellite loci in fire ant Solenopsis invicta populations. Mol Ecol 6:997–999. doi:10.1046/j.1365-294X.1997.00264.x
Krieger MJB, Ross KG, Chang CWY et al (1999) Frequency and origin of triploidy in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta. Heredity 82:142–150. doi:10.1038/sj.hdy.6884600
Liu K, Muse SV (2005) PowerMarker: an integrated analysis environment for genetic marker analysis. Bioinformatics 21:2128–2129. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/bti282
Miao X-X, Li W-H, Li M-W et al (2008) Inheritance and linkage analysis of co-dominant SSR markers on the Z chromosome of the silkworm (Bombyx mori L.). Genet Res 90:151–156. doi:10.1017/S0016672308009221
Pascoe A (2002) Strategies for managing incursions of exotic animals to New Zealand. Micronesia 6:129–135
Pimentel D, Lach L, Zuniga R et al (2000) Environmental and economic costs of nonindigenous species in the United States. Bioscience 50:53–65. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2000)050[0053:EAECON]2.3.CO;2
Ross K, Shoemaker D, Krieger M et al (1999) Assessing genetic structure with multiple classes of molecular markers: a case study involving the introduced fire ant Solenopsis invicta. Mol Biol Evol 16:525–543
Ross KG, Vander Meer RK, Fletcher DJC et al (1987a) Biochemical phenotypic and genetic studies of two introduced fire ants and their hybrid (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Evol Int J Org Evol 41:280–293. doi:10.2307/2409138
Ross KG, Vargo EL, Fletcher DJC (1987b) Comparative biochemical genetics of three fire ant species in North America, with special reference to the two social forms of Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Evol Int J Org Evol 41:979–990. doi:10.2307/2409186
Ruger MH, Heinze J, Foitzik S (2005) Polymorphic microsatellite loci in the ponerine ant, Hypoponera opacior (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Mol Ecol Notes 5:236–238. doi:10.1111/j.1471-8286.2005.00888.x
Shimizu M, Kosaka N, Shimada T et al (2002) Universal fluorescent labeling (UFL) method for automated microsatellite analysis. DNA Res 9:173–178. doi:10.1093/dnares/9.5.173
Shoemaker DD, Ross KG, Arnold ML (1994) Development of RAPD markers in two introduced fire ants, Solenopsis invicta and S. richteri, and their application to the study of a hybrid zone. Mol Ecol 3:531–539. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.1994.tb00084.x
Tschinkel WR (2006) The fire ants. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Tsutsui ND, Suarez AV (2003) The colony structure and population biology of invasive ants. Conserv Biol 17:48–58. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.02018.x
Varshney RK, Graner A, Sorrells ME (2005) Genic microsatellite markers in plants: features and applications. Trends Biotechnol 23:48–55. doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2004.11.005
Wang J, Jemielity S, Uva P et al (2007) An annotated cDNA library and microarray for large-scale gene-expression studies in the ant Solenopsis invicta. Genome Biol 8:R9. doi:10.1186/gb-2007-8-1-r9
Wojcik DP, Allen CR, Brenner RJ et al (2001) Red imported fire ants: impact on biodiversity. Am Entomol 47:16–23
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by grants to RHC from the Australian Research Council (DP0665890, DP0450569) and by the Endeavour Postgraduate Award to ZQQ from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Australia. BCS and FMS were supported by the Austrian Science Fund (J2639-B17, J2642-B17). Genotyping in this study was performed by the Genetic Analysis Facility at James Cook University. Non-RIFA voucher specimens (AEBZ-20 & AEJE) have been deposited in the Queensland Museum.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Qian, ZQ., Crozier, Y.C., Schlick-Steiner, B.C. et al. Characterization of expressed sequence tag (EST)-derived microsatellite loci in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Conserv Genet 10, 1373–1376 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-008-9698-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-008-9698-7