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FORMIC ACID FUNGICIDE. "In invasive garden ants, grooming of fungus-exposed brood is effective beyond the sheer mechanical removal of fungal conidiospores; it also includes chemical disinfection through the application of poison produced by the ants themselves. Formic acid is the main active component of the poison. It inhibits fungal growth of conidiospores remaining on the brood surface after grooming and also those collected in the mouth of the grooming ant." https://lnkd.in/ePYNRJu View in LinkedIn

INDEX CASES. "The concern comes after scientists found that a small number of people who died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) after being treated with growth hormone taken from cadavers, developed brain changes seen in Alzheimer’s disease." http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/09/protein-linked-to-alzheimers-could-be-spread-during-surgery-say-researchers View in LinkedIn

HERBICIDE. "Here we show that the ant Myrmelachista schumanni, which nests in D. hirsuta stems, creates devil's gardens by poisoning all plants except its host plants with formic acid. By killing these other plants, M. schumanni provides its colonies with abundant nest sites — a long-lasting benefit as colonies can live for 800 years." https://lnkd.in/eXFetfk View in LinkedIn

CONTAMINATION. "Researchers called for further work into the possibility that metal instruments used in medical procedures could pick up harmful proteins which survive conventional sterilisation with formaldehyde." http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/09/protein-linked-to-alzheimers-could-be-spread-during-surgery-say-researchers View in LinkedIn

COORDINATED ANT DEFENSE. "Many ants squirt formic acid in huge jets (up to a meter) in a coordinated fashion when threatened". An ant is about 10(-3) meters, so to spray 1 meter is 1/0.001 or 1,000 times their height. The Eiffel Tower is 301 meters high, and the average man 1.7 meters, so the ant spray is the equivalent of a human spraying to the top of 5.6 stacked Eiffel towers. Watch this video of ants in action by David Attenborough. https://lnkd.in/eBaemnV View in LinkedIn

HARD TO KILL. "Prions, however, are infectious by their effect on normal versions of the protein. Sterilizing prions, therefore, requires the denaturation of the protein to a state in which the molecule is no longer able to induce the abnormal folding of normal proteins. In general, prions are quite resistant to proteases, heat, radiation, and formalin treatments, although their infectivity can be reduced by such treatments." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion View in LinkedIn

MAMMALIAN PROTEINS IN ARSENAL. "The poison of many stinging nettles contains formic acid, although scientists have discovered that other chemicals are also present. These probably contribute to the painful sting. The additional chemicals include acetylcholine, serotonin and histamine." https://lnkd.in/eR-p3J9 View in LinkedIn

YEAST PRIONS. "Self-propagating abnormal proteins, prions, have been identified in yeast; asparagine/glutamine-rich ‘prion domains’ within these proteins can inactivate the linked functional domains; new prion domains and reporters have been used to make ‘synthetic prions’, leading to discoveries of new natural prions." https://lnkd.in/eersnh6 View in LinkedIn

ANT-IDOTE. Fire ants attack tawny crazy ants with their venom which usually kills target insects. Tawny crazy ants respond by secreting formic acid to bathe themselves in. This is the antidote to the fire ant toxin, and forms an ionic liquid (liquid salts with very low meeting points) not before found in nature. https://lnkd.in/eHuSE6W View in LinkedIn

SHEEP SCRAPIE. "Many distinct strains of scrapie prions have been derived from sheep scrapie isolates. Because different strains can be propagated in a single inbred mouse line (homozygous with regard to its PrP gene) the same PrP molecule must be able to mediate different strain phenotypes." https://lnkd.in/ey5nHGn View in LinkedIn