Differences in cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) among worker castes and colonies were examined in Apis cerana indica. The roles of tetracosanoic acid, hexadecanoic acid, pentacosane, and (Z)-9-tricosene in nestmate recognition were studied. The CHC profiles of different castes, i.e., newly emerged bees, nurse bees, and forager bees, were found to differ among colonies. The CHC profiles of nurse bees were similar across different colonies, but forager bees in all colonies had significantly greater amounts of alkanes. In nestmate recognition experiments, guard bees reacted significantly more aggressively to foragers treated with tetracosanoic acid, hexadecanoic acid, and (Z)-9-tricosene. Pentacosane provoked no such effect.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10886-016-0700-4 | DOI Listing |
Curr Biol
December 2024
Department of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Institute of Biology I, University of Freiburg, Hauptstraße 1, 79104 Freiburg, Germany. Electronic address:
Recognition protects biological systems at all scales, from cells to societies. Social insects recognize their nestmates by colony-specific olfactory labels that individuals store as neural templates in their memory. Throughout an ant's life, learning continuously shapes the nestmate recognition template to keep up with the constant changes in colony labels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
September 2024
Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Turin, Italy.
Ant evolutionary success depends mainly on the coordination of colony members, who recognize nestmates based on the cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profile of their epicuticle. While several studies have examined variations in this crucial factor for colony identity, few have investigated the anthropic impact on CHC profiles, and none have focused on . Here, we surveyed the changes in CHC assemblages across agroecosystems and assessed whether different vineyard management influences these profiles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Biol Sci
September 2024
Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son , Okinawa 904-0495, Japan.
Communication is essential for social organisms. In eusocial insects, olfaction facilitates communication and recognition between nestmates. The study of certain model organisms has led to the hypothesis that odorant receptors are expanded in eusocial Hymenoptera.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
September 2024
Department of Entomology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States of America.
Nestmate recognition in ants is regulated through the detection of cuticular hydrocarbons by odorant receptors (ORs) in the antennae. These ORs are crucial for maintaining colony cohesion that allows invasive ant species to dominate colonized environments. In the invasive Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, ORs regulating nestmate recognition are thought to be present in a clade of nine-exon odorant receptors, but the identity of the specific genes remains unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInsect diversification has been catalyzed by widespread specialization on novel hosts - a process underlying exceptional radiations of phytophagous beetles, lepidopterans, parasitoid wasps, and inordinate lineages of symbionts, predators and other trophic specialists. The strict fidelity of many such interspecies associations is posited to hinge on sensory tuning to host-derived cues, a model supported by studies of neural function in host-specific model species. Here, we investigated the sensory basis of symbiotic interactions between a myrmecophile rove beetle and its single, natural host ant species.
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