The odorous house ant, Tapinoma sessile, is a widespread, common pest in North American residential areas, yet the understanding of how viral pathogens shape its behavior, management, and interactions with other insects remains limited. Over the course of my thesis, I characterized four novel viruses in T. sessile using metatranscriptomic analysis, investigated their infectivity, and explored how colony social organization influences viral infection patterns. Inoculation experiments confirmed active infection in T. sessile colonies, suggesting trophallaxis as a route for horizontal transmission. These viruses were prevalent in urban populations with polygyne, unicolonial traits, indicating a potential association between colony social structure, colony location, and virus presence and diversity. Additionally, common honey bee viruses including Deformed Wing Virus and Kashmir Bee Virus were detected in T. sessile colonies, with higher prevalence near beehives, indicating a route for virus spillover between the species. Furthermore, the impact of viral infection on foraging behavior was assessed, revealing altered activity and diet preferences in infected colonies and highlighting the need for modified control strategies. Finally, I explored virus transmission between T. sessile and associated arthropods and found shared viruses and active replication in arthropods within ant nests, indicating a novel case of virus spillover between ants and myrmecophiles. These findings offer insights into viral pathogen interactions within ant colonies, the influence of social organization on infection dynamics, and the potential for pathogen transmission between ants and associated arthropods and offer a deeper understanding of an important native ant species that may shape future pest management strategies. / Master of Science in Life Sciences / In my thesis research I studied the odorous house ant or sugar ant, a common pest in homes and businesses in North America, to understand how viral pathogens shape its behavior, management, and interactions with other insects. I discovered four new odorous house ant viruses infecting these ants using molecular analysis techniques and found that they can pass from ant to ant when they share food. Interestingly, these viruses were more common in urban ant colonies with multiple queens, suggesting a link between the ants' social structure and the viruses they carry. Additionally, I found viruses typically seen in honey bees in these ant colonies, especially when those colonies were close to beehives, indicating that the odorous house ant can pick up viruses from honey bees. Furthermore, I studied how these viruses affect ant behavior and found that infected ant colonies change their activity and food preferences. Lastly, I investigated if these viruses are able to jump from ants to other insects and found evidence that insects living in their nests shared the same or similar virus infections. These findings provide important insights into how viruses spread among ant colonies and nearby insects, how their social structure affects transmission of viruses, and how viruses can move between different species of insects. Understanding these interactions is crucial for developing better ways to control ant pests and for gaining a deeper understanding of this important native ant species.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/119140 |
| Date | 28 May 2024 |
| Creators | Hartle, Charly Taryn |
| Contributors | Entomology, Yang, Chin-Cheng Scotty, Del Pozo-Valdivia, Alejandro, Hawley, Dana Michelle, Schuerch, Roger, Shoemaker, DeWayne |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
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