Interspecific comparison of mushroom body synaptic complexes of dimorphic workers in the ant genus Pheidole
Interspecific comparison of mushroom body synaptic complexes of dimorphic workers in the ant genus Pheidole
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DOI：
10.1016/j.neulet.2017.10.009
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发表时间：
2018-01-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Traniello, James F. A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gordon, Darcy G.;Zelaya, Alejandra;Traniello, James F. A.
社会性昆虫可能有形态和行为上专门的工人，这些工人对感觉信息处理的要求各不相同，使它们成为研究大脑结构和行为之间关系的优秀系统。蘑菇体（MB）中突触复合物（微球，MG）的密度和大小已被用作加工能力和突触可塑性的代理，并已被证明在行为复杂性不同的昆虫物种之间存在差异。为了了解行为特化和突触结构之间的关系，我们研究了两种不同行为的Pheidole蚂蚁P. dentata和P. morrisi中的小工蚁和士兵亚种之间MG密度和大小的年龄相关变化。我们假设，任务多样化的未成年工人将有更密集的MG比士兵，并在士兵剧目的物种特异性差异将反映在MG结构。我们还研究了MG的变化，在年轻和成熟的未成年工人和士兵，预测工人的年龄和发展行为，MG将减少密度在两个subcastes由于突触修剪。结果支持这一假设，MG密度在唇（嗅觉）和衣领（视觉）地区的MBs随着年龄的增长与增加唇口的大小。然而，未成年人有显着较低的密度MG的嘴唇比士兵，这表明MG可能不会显示结构变化，根据subcasting相关的差异，在任何一个物种的认知需求。
Social insects may have morphologically and behaviorally specialized workers that vary in requirements for sensory information processing, making them excellent systems to examine the relationship between brain structure and behavior. The density and size of synaptic complexes (microglomeruli, MG) in the mushroom bodies (MB) have served as proxies for processing ability and synaptic plasticity, and have been shown to vary among insect species that differ in behavioral complexity. To understand the relationship between behavioral specialization and synaptic structure, we examined age-related changes in MG density and size between minor worker and soldier subcastes in two species of Pheidole ants, P. dentata and P. morrisi, that differ in behavior. We hypothesized that task-diverse minor workers would have more densely packed MG than soldiers, and that species-specific differences in soldier repertories would be reflected in MG structure. We also examined MG variation in young and mature minor workers and soldiers, predicting that as workers age and develop behaviorally, MG would decrease in density in both subcastes due to synaptic pruning. Results support the hypothesis that MG density in the lip (olfactory) and collar (visual) regions of the MBs decrease with age in association with increases in bouton size in the lip. However, minors had significantly lower densities of MG in the lip than soldiers, suggesting MG may not show structural variation according to subcaste-related differences in cognitive demands in either species.