GRP3 – Ant 1 – The Wolbachia Project

Sample information
Picture	Photos by: Benjamin N
Location
Collection date	05/08/2024
Captive / Cultivated?	Wild-caught
Group	California Academy of Mathematics and Science
Observations	Ant found in wild environment with dry terrain and lots of flora. Ant has no wings and remained intact.
Putative identification	Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Hymenoptera Formicidae
Methods
Extraction kit	none
DNA extraction location	body without wings
Single or Duplex PCR	Single Reaction
Gel electrophoresis system	Standard electrophoresis system
Buffer	TAE
DNA stain	Fast Blast
Gel images
Protocol notes	Both gels were run for around 30 minutes using orange g loading dye, then Fast Blast with 100x for 3 minutes. Then the gels were rinsed under warm water for 10 seconds and destained with warm water for 5 minutes off the rocker and 5 minutes on a slow rocker.
Results
Wolbachia presence	No
Confidence level	Low
Explanation of confidence level	Our gel provided very faint bands, so it hard to tell whether the pcr for the Wolbachia provided enough sample to visualize the band. This data is somewhat reliable because the positive Wolbachia and arthropod controls both contained a Wolbachia band in the Wolbachia pcr gel along with all the arthropod samples containing the same size bad in the arthropod pcr gel.
Wolbachia 16S sequence
Arthropod COI sequence
Summary	The Formicidae was found to be negative for Wolbachia.

The Wolbachia Project Database