The nonstinging house ant, Monomorium pharaonis (pharaoh ant), was recently identified as a cause of respiratory allergy. This study was performed to evaluate the extent of sensitization to pharaoh ant, and its clinical significance in asthmatic patients. We carried out skin prick tests in 318 patients with asthma. Specific IgE (sIgE) to pharaoh ant was measured by ELISA, and cross-reactivity w...

Some aphid species form close associations with ants: offering them honeydew and obtaining protection from ants in return. However, mutualistic interactions can also have a negative influence on physiological morphological traits. Wolbachia are intracellular bacteria whose major genotypes classified into 17 supergroups (A to S except G R). Aphid within the genus Tuberculatus feed Fagaceae leave...

Tropical birds forage at army ant raids on several continents. Obligate foraging at army ant raids evolved several times in the Neotropical true antbird family (Thamnophilidae), and recent evidence suggests a diversity of bird species from other families specialize to varying degrees on army ant exploitation. Army ant raids offer access to high prey densities, but the ant colonies are mobile an...

Chimpanzees are renowned for their use of foraging tools in harvesting social insects and some populations use tools to prey on aggressive army ants (Dorylus spp.). Tool use in army ant predation varies across chimpanzee study sites with differences in tool length, harvesting technique, and army ant species targeted. However, surprisingly little is known about the detailed ecology of army ant p...

Termites and ants contribute more to animal biomass in tropical rain forests than any other single group and perform vital ecosystem functions. Although ants prey on termites, at the community level the linkage between these groups is poorly understood. Thus, assessing the distribution and specificity of ant termitophagy is of considerable interest. We describe an approach for quantifying ant-t...

Recent analyses of immune response (It) 1 gene-con t ro l l ed responses have led to the conclusion that nonresponsiveness, in the major i ty , if not all, of the cases, is caused by the absence of funct ional T cell clones ra ther than a failure of an t igen presenta t ion (1-4). Theoret ica l ly , nonresponsiveness at the T cell level can arise in at least two ways, bo th associated with the ...

1. The present review focuses on the adenine nucleotide translocator (ANT), which facilitates exchange of cytosolic ADP for mitochondrial ATP. This protein serves a central role in regulating cellular oxidative capacity. 2. The ANT, a nuclear-encoded mitochondrial protein, is developmentally regulated and, thus, accumulates within the mitochondrial membrane during maturation. 3. Accumulation of...