Age-Dependent Increase in Soldier Pheromone of the Termite Reticulitermes speratus
Age-Dependent Increase in Soldier Pheromone of the Termite Reticulitermes speratus
复制标题
散白蚁士兵信息素的年龄依赖性增加
DOI：
10.1007/s10886-020-01182-6
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发表时间：
2020
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Matsuura Kenji
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Mitaka Yuki;Matsuura Kenji
信息素交流有助于维持群居昆虫复杂的群体组织。在白蚁群中，有两个功能不同的士兵群体：皇家守卫和入口守卫。皇家守卫保护巢内最深处的国王和王后，而入口守卫则防止捕食者侵入外围的巢穴。最近的一项研究显示，年轻的士兵和年长的士兵分别担任皇家警卫和门卫。这种与年龄相关的分布被认为有助于工蚁识别它们在巢中的位置。然而，目前尚不清楚工人是否会歧视士兵的年龄。在这里，我们证明了士兵信息素的丰度随着年龄的变化而变化，工人通过识别信息素的丰度来区分士兵的年龄。气相色谱-质谱分析表明，不同年龄的士兵群体（新分化士兵、皇家卫队士兵和门卫士兵）提取物的化学特征有显著差异。在三个年龄段中，门卫士兵的士兵信息素含量最高。此外，我们的生物测定表明，只有当一个士兵信息素较少的士兵位于房间入口时，工人从一个房间移动到另一个房间才会受到抑制。这些结果表明，士兵信息素是士兵年龄的指示器，工蚁的行为会随着守卫舱口的士兵的年龄而改变。这项研究有助于我们理解昆虫社会性衰老与信息素交流之间的关系。
Pheromone communication helps maintaining the sophisticated colony organization in social insects. In the termiteReticulitermes speratus, there are two functionally distinct soldier groups: royal guards and entrance guards. Royal guards protect kings and queens in the innermost part of the nest, whereas entrance guards prevent predators from intruding into the nest at the periphery. A recent study revealed that younger and older soldiers work as royal and entrance guards, respectively. This age-dependent distribution is thought to help workers to recognize where in the nest they are located. However, it is not known whether workers can discriminate the age of soldiers. Here, we show that the abundance of soldier pheromone changes with age and that workers discriminate a soldier’s age by recognizing the pheromone abundance. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis revealed that the chemical profiles of extracts in three soldier groups of different ages (newly differentiated, royal guard, and entrance guard soldiers) are markedly different. Entrance guard soldiers have the most soldier pheromone among the three age classes. Furthermore, our bioassays suggested that the worker’s movement from chamber to chamber is inhibited only when a soldier with less soldier pheromone is located at the chamber entrance. These results suggest that the soldier pheromone functions as a soldier age indicator and that workers change their behavior depending on the age of the soldier defending the chamber entrance. This study contributes to our understanding of the relationship between aging and pheromone communication in social insects.