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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Maricopa, Arizona » U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center » Pest Management and Biocontrol Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #322960
Research Project: Ecologically Based Pest Management in Western Crops Such as Cotton

Location: Pest Management and Biocontrol Research

Title: Protein self-marking by ectoparasites: a case study using bed bugs

Author
item SIVAKOFF, FRANCES - The Ohio State University
item JONES, SUSAN - The Ohio State University
item Machtley, Scott
item Hagler, James

Submitted to: Journal of Medical Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/2016
Publication Date: 8/5/2016
Citation: Sivakoff, F.S., Jones, S.C., Machtley, S.A., Hagler, J.R. 2016. Protein self-marking by ectoparasites: a case study using bed bugs. Journal of Medical Entomology. 53(6):1370-1377.

Interpretive Summary: Bed bugs are external parasitic insects that feed on the blood of humans, other mammals, and birds. Knowledge of bed bug dispersal or movement patterns is critical for more effective control of this noxious pest. Insect dispersal is often studied using marked insects, but the marker must be easily and unambiguously detectable. ARS scientists at Maricopa, AZ in collaboration with researchers at Ohio State University marked bed bugs by simply allowing them to feed freely on rabbit and chicken blood meals. In turn, sensitive assays were used to detect specific proteins characteristic of rabbit or chicken blood within the stomachs of the bed bugs for many weeks after the blood meals. This marking technique will provide a valuable methodology to track the large-scale dispersal patterns of bed bugs in their natural habitat.

Technical Abstract: 1. The ability to mark individuals is a critical feature of many ecological and evolutionary investigations, including dispersal studies. Insect dispersal is generally investigated using mark-release-recapture techniques, whereby marked individuals are released at a known location and then captured at a measured distance. Ectoparasite dispersal has historically been challenging to study, in part because of the ethical concerns associated with releasing marked individuals. 2. Laboratory reared bed bugs marked themselves by feeding on either rabbit or chicken blood. We then used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) to detect rabbit immunoglobulin G or chicken immunoglobulin Y blood serum proteins in bed bugs. We assessed these protein markers' ability to (1) distinctively identify marked individuals, (2) persist over time after blood meals on alternate hosts, and across a range of temperatures, and (3) transfer from marked to unmarked individuals. 3. Protein-specific ELISAs detected protein markers in 92% of individuals that fed on chicken blood and 98% of individuals that fed on rabbit blood. Protein marks remained detectible even after multiple feedings on an alternate diet. Whether an individual was starved, or fed on an alternate diet, did not affect the persistence of a protein mark, but duration of detectability depended on temperature. Protein marks did not transfer between individuals. 4. Protein self-marking is an effective technique for marking bed bugs and holds promise for use in dispersal studies of ectoparasitic insects.