The Effect of a Proline and Allantoin Diet on Cold Tolerance in Aphaenogaster picea
Conference Year
January 2019
Abstract
The study will look specifically at the effects of allantoin and proline as cryoprotectants on A. picea and their resistance to the cold. In a previous study in the Helms Cahan Lab, allantoin and proline were two metabolites that were significant in terms of having a response to the cold environment. My aim was to see if these specific metabolites do actively play a role as a defense the cold. I want to see that allantoin would increase the ability of ants to adapt under the rapid cold hardening as well as the acclimation conditions to suggest that they rely on this metabolite as an antioxidant to help reduce the oxidative stress when undergoing cold shocks and rapid cold hardening. In this study, I want to see that proline in ants under acclimation would prove to be an important metabolite used as a cryoprotectant to help ants survive under long-term exposure to the cold by stabilizing their cell membranes, and potentially see significance of this metabolite in ants by also positively affecting them under rapid cold hardening.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Sara Helms Cahan
Faculty/Staff Collaborators
Katie Bora (Research Assistant)
Status
Undergraduate
Student College
College of Arts and Sciences
Program/Major
Biological Sciences, Integrated
Primary Research Category
Biological Sciences
The Effect of a Proline and Allantoin Diet on Cold Tolerance in Aphaenogaster picea
The study will look specifically at the effects of allantoin and proline as cryoprotectants on A. picea and their resistance to the cold. In a previous study in the Helms Cahan Lab, allantoin and proline were two metabolites that were significant in terms of having a response to the cold environment. My aim was to see if these specific metabolites do actively play a role as a defense the cold. I want to see that allantoin would increase the ability of ants to adapt under the rapid cold hardening as well as the acclimation conditions to suggest that they rely on this metabolite as an antioxidant to help reduce the oxidative stress when undergoing cold shocks and rapid cold hardening. In this study, I want to see that proline in ants under acclimation would prove to be an important metabolite used as a cryoprotectant to help ants survive under long-term exposure to the cold by stabilizing their cell membranes, and potentially see significance of this metabolite in ants by also positively affecting them under rapid cold hardening.