Social transmission of information about a mutualist via trophallaxis in ant colonies
Social transmission of information about a mutualist via trophallaxis in ant colonies
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2017.1367
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发表时间：
2017-08-30
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Tsuji, Kazuki
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hayashi, Masayuki;Hojo, Masaru K.;Tsuji, Kazuki
在有机体之间的互利互动中，伴侣歧视至关重要，以抵消伴侣的欺骗行为。蚂蚁和蚜虫之间的营养共生就是这种相互作用的模式系统。为了建立和维持这种互惠关系，蚂蚁需要正确地区分互惠的蚜虫。然而，尽管它在生态和进化上具有重要意义，但蚂蚁识别蚜虫为其伴侣的机制却知之甚少。在这里，我们第一次展示了与照顾过蚜虫(Aphis Cracciora)的巢友的互动使蚂蚁(Tetramum Tsushimae)学会将蚜虫物种识别为它们的伴侣的证据。当蚂蚁以前照看蚜虫时，它们会缓和对蚜虫的攻击性。更重要的是，与有过蚜虫经验的伙伴互动的蚂蚁也减少了它们对蚜虫的攻击性，尽管它们从未直接经历过它们，这表明蚜虫信息是从有过蚜虫经验的蚂蚁传递给没有经验的蚂蚁的。此外，通过向没有经验的蚂蚁提供人工蜜露溶液来抑制从有经验的蚂蚁到没有经验的蚂蚁的嘴对嘴接触(滋养松弛)，导致没有经验的蚂蚁变得对蚜虫具有攻击性。这些结果和进一步的支持数据有力地表明，蚂蚁在滋养层相互作用期间传输关于它们的互助者的信息。
Partner discrimination is crucial in mutualistic interactions between organisms to counteract cheating by the partner. Trophobiosis between ants and aphids is a model system of such mutualistic interaction. To establish and maintain the mutualistic association, ants need to correctly discriminate mutualistic aphids. However, the mechanism by which ants recognize aphids as their partners is poorly understood, despite its ecological and evolutionary importance. Here, we show for the first time the evidence that interaction with nest-mates that have tended aphids (Aphis craccivora) allows ants (Tetramorium tsushimae) to learn to recognize the aphid species as their partner. When ants had previously tended aphids, they moderated their aggressiveness towards aphids. More importantly, ants that had interacted with aphid-experienced nest-mates also reduced their aggressiveness towards aphids, even though they had never directly experienced them, indicating that aphid information was transmitted from aphid-experienced ants to inexperienced ants. Furthermore, inhibition of mouth-to-mouth contact (trophallaxis) from aphid-experienced ants to inexperienced ants by providing the inexperienced ants with artificial honeydew solution caused the inexperienced ants to become aggressive towards aphids. These results, with further supporting data, strongly suggest that ants transfer information on their mutualists during trophallactic interactions.