Structural complexity of chemical recognition cues affects the perception of group membership in the ants Linephithema humile and Aphaenogaster cockerelli
Structural complexity of chemical recognition cues affects the perception of group membership in the ants Linephithema humile and Aphaenogaster cockerelli
复制标题
DOI：
10.1242/jeb.02706
复制
发表时间：
2007-03-01
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Gordon, Deborah M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Greene, Michael J.;Gordon, Deborah M.
碳氢化合物配置文件上的角质层的社会昆虫作为多组分识别线索，用于识别成员在一个物种，一个殖民地或殖民地内，线索有关其生殖状态或任务组。为了研究结构复杂性在蚂蚁碳氢化合物识别线索中的作用，我们研究了两种蚂蚁的物种识别反应，Linepithema humile和Aphaenogaster cockerelli，以及L.卑微蚂蚁表皮的碳氢化合物由三种结构类型的不同链长的分子组成，正构烷烃，甲基支链烷烃和正构烯烃。我们采用了物种识别生物测定，测量了两种蚂蚁的碳氢化合物类，碳氢化合物（正烷烃，甲基支链烷烃和正烯烃）的单一结构类的混合物的侵略性反应，和控制。结果表明，至少两种烃结构类的组合是必要的，以引起侵略性的物种识别反应。此外，没有哪一类碳氢化合物比其他碳氢化合物更能引起反应。同样，在识别同种，Linepithema humile没有回应的混合物的正烷烃表皮碳氢化合物单独提出，但补充nestmate碳氢化合物配置文件与正烷烃引起高水平的侵略。因此L. humile和A. cockerelli需要不同结构类别的碳氢化合物混合物来识别物种和群落成员。看来，物种和殖民地成员的信息是不是在孤立的组件的配置文件，而是在混合结构类中发现表皮碳氢化合物配置文件。
Hydrocarbon profiles on the cuticle of social insects act as multi-component recognition cues used to identify membership in a species, a colony or, within colonies, cues about its reproductive status or task group. To examine the role of structural complexity in ant hydrocarbon recognition cues, we studied the species recognition response of two ant species, Linepithema humile and Aphaenogaster cockerelli, and the recognition of conspecifics by L. humile. The cuticular hydrocarbons of ants are composed of molecules of varying chain lengths from three structural classes, n-alkanes, methyl-branched alkanes and n-alkenes. We employed species recognition bioassays that measured the aggressive response of both species of ants to mixtures of hydrocarbon classes, single structural classes of hydrocarbons (n-alkanes, methyl-branched alkanes and n-alkenes), and controls. The results showed that a combination of at least two hydrocarbon structural classes was necessary to elicit an aggressive species recognition response. Moreover, no single class of hydrocarbons was more important than the others in eliciting a response. Similarly, in the recognition of conspecifics, Linepithema humile did not respond to a mixture of n-alkane cuticular hydrocarbons presented alone, but supplementation of nestmate hydrocarbon profiles with the n-alkanes did elicit high levels of aggression. Thus both L. humile and A. cockerelli required mixtures of hydrocarbons of different structural classes to recognize species and colony membership. It appears that information on species and colony membership is not in isolated components of the profile, but instead in the mixture of structural classes found in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles.