Month: September 2022

ANT CONTRIBUTION. "The formicine ants represent about 10% of all ant species and their estimated 100 trillion individuals may produce on a global basis as much as ten billion (10(13)) kilograms of atmospheric formic acid each year." Human production of formic acid in 2008 was a mere 720 million kg. https://lnkd.in/e4HnhCR View in LinkedIn

UNKNOWN MECHANISM. "The tissues of the poison sac and the ejaculatory duct resist the action of such a strong acid and that the mechanism of that resistance is quite unknown." https://lnkd.in/ev_AHuh View in LinkedIn

ACID PROTECTION. "The convoluted gland leading to the poison gland of formicine ants is lined with hexadecanol and its formate and acetate, and may protect the gland from formic acid corrosion." https://lnkd.in/e8TW9gg View in LinkedIn

HYPOTHESIS. Formicine ants' "convoluted glands (but not the venom reservoir) invariably contain microgram quantities of hexadecanol, hexadecyl formate and hexadecyl acetate in varying proportions. They also suggested that the molecules involved could possibly form ordered mono-layers of closely packed molecules (Langmuir-Blodgett films), hence inhibiting evaporation and acting as insulators or protecting cells against corrosive venom compounds." https://lnkd.in/e5qesEy View in LinkedIn

CHEMICAL NEUTRALIZATION? "Contact of hexadecanol with the venom could convert it partially into formate and acetate. The additional presence of chemicals other than formic acid is important for protection against self-intoxication." https://lnkd.in/e5qesEy View in LinkedIn

RATIO HYPOTHESES. "The toxic effects of formic acid on the secretory cells are apparently avoided by a 20:1 equilibrium at the last step...a carrier system appears to transport formic acid across the membrane of the glandular cells into the glandular lumen." (Page 443). No mention of how toxicity in the poison sac, or on the body and spiracles of the ant during spraying, is avoided. https://lnkd.in/eC6G2BW View in LinkedIn

VAGUE SUPPOSITION. "A combination of the biochemical characteristics of the pathway and the special morphological features of the poison gland" are thought to confer the protection against formic acid in ants and beetles. https://lnkd.in/ehPdgcC View in LinkedIn

NO STUDIES have convincingly addressed why insects such as formicine ants can survive storing, showering and breathing in 80% formic acid without severe respiratory and tissue damage. This systemic exposure to such a toxin without adverse effects remains a mystery. https://lnkd.in/e8TW9gg View in LinkedIn

AND SO ENDS our journey into the quirky, creative, and still mysterious world of the Formicine ant, which is completely centered around formic acid for defense and hygiene. These tiny creatures have a massive impact on tropical forest atmospheres. Evolution has designed them to behave as a superorganism, where the individual is an expendable element of the greater organism. View in LinkedIn

PRIONS are biological rule breakers. So are other mobile parasitic or symbiotic genetic elements that include plasmids, transposons and other freaky elements of code. These are stray pieces of orphan genetic code that have gained strange autonomy from the cellular machinery. Pieces of floating DNA which introduce diversity in unexpected ways, and whose genetic freshness is a driver of evolution. View in LinkedIn