A potential contamination error associated with insect protein mark-capture data
2015
Hagler, James R. | Machtley, Scott A. | Blackmer, Felisa
Various types of protein spray solutions have proven effective for externally tagging arthropods for mark-release-recapture (MRR) and mark-capture type dispersal research. However, there is concern that certain standardized arthropod collection methods, such as sweep netting, might lead to high incidences of protein transfer from field-marked to unmarked arthropods during sample collection and sample handling. Arthropods were collected in sweep nets from an alfalfa field that also contained 10 egg white-, 10 bovine milk-, 10 soy milk-, and 10 water (control)-marked Hippodamia convergens Guerin Meneville (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) that were visually distinguishable by a yellow, white, green and blue dot, respectively. The plant debris and arthropods from each sweep net collection were then placed into either a paper or a plastic bag and frozen for storage. The contents of each sweep net sample were thawed and the color-coded H. convergens and field-collected arthropods were examined for the presence of each protein by an egg-white (albumin), bovine milk (casein) and soy milk (soy trypsin) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Data revealed that only 0.67, 0.81 and 0% of the field collected arthropods acquired an egg white, bovine milk and soy milk mark, respectively. ELISA results also showed that all the egg white-marked H. convergens retained their mark, but 5.1 and 22.1% of the soy milk and bovine milk-marked H. convergens (color-coded beetles) lost their mark during the collection and sample handling processes, respectively.
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