Neural mechanisms underlying nestmate recognition of the ant Camponotus japonicus

蚂蚁有非常复杂的信息素交流系统来维持一个复杂的社会。角质层表面发现的角质层碳氢化合物(CHCs)对鸟巢识别起着至关重要的作用。有人认为，蚂蚁Camponotus Japan onicus通过直接与另一只蚂蚁的触角基本感受器接触来检测群体特异性的CHC谱。在这里，我们发现蚂蚁可以通过从角质层表面提取的挥发性提取物来识别雀巢。这一结果表明，蚂蚁通过嗅觉线索来识别筑巢对象。因此，我们在一个基本感受器中进行了感觉神经元的细胞外记录，发现每个感受器对不同的嗅觉分子做出反应。在蚂蚁中，基本感受器接收到的感觉信息在特定的大脑区域进行处理。最后，为了揭示群居昆虫的脑进化，我们发展了免疫染色并比较了许多膜翅目昆虫的脑结构。

Ants have highly elaborate pheromonal communication systems to maintain a complex society. Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) found on the cuticle surface, play critical roles for nestmate recognition. It have been suggested that the ant, Camponotus japonicus, detects the colony-specific CHC profile by directly contacting another ant with their antennal basiconic sensilla. Here, we found that the ant can recognize nestmate by volatilized extracts derived from the cuticle surface. This result suggests that the ants recognize nestmate using olfactory cues. Therefore, we performed extracellular recordings from sensory neurons in a basiconic sensillum, and found that each sensillum responded varied olfactory molecules. In the ants, sensory information received by basiconic sensilla is processed in specific brain regions. Finally, to reveal the brain evolution of social insects, we developed immunostainings and compared brain structures among many hymenopteran insects.