Exometabolome of the tegument from the social wasp Polybia paulista by GC-MS: molecular basis of parental type’s recognition

Abstract

The social wasps have an efficient system of chemical communication based on pheromones. In social wasps, the pheromones are responsible for eliciting the behaviors of alarm, recruitment, defense of the colony, and kin-recognition. The DuFour gland, whose secretion is a complex mixture of saturated and unsaturated lipids with medium-chain, secretes most of these components (mostly non-polar and volatile); short-chained organics acids, aldehydes, and ketones. The tegument of social wasps is covered by a mixture of epicuticular waxes and hydrocarbons, which, together with a variety of other molecules, may play different roles in the chemical communication of these animals, both for recognition of individuals as intra-and interspecific chemical signals. Therefore, this work aims to identify low molecular mass compounds that are present in the tegument of the social wasp Polybia Paulista, by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Moreover, this is an important tool for the study of molecular markers, allowing the comparison of actual spectra with extensive libraries of mass spectra, very accurately. The compounds from the tegument of Polybia Paulista will be functionally characterized by behavioral bioassays in the countryside, aiding the understanding of the chemical ecology of this insect, through the study of chemical communication and defense mechanisms/recognition of the species of social wasp Polybia Paulista. (AU)