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Szczuka A, Sochacka-Marlowe A, Korczyńska J, Mazurkiewicz PJ, Symonowicz B, Kukina O, Godzińska EJ. Do They Know What They Are Doing? Cognitive Aspects of Rescue Behaviour Directed by Workers of the Red Wood Ant Formica polyctena to Nestmate Victims Entrapped in Artificial Snares. Life (Basel) 2024; 14:515. [PMID: 38672785 DOI: 10.3390/life14040515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Revised: 04/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Ant rescue behaviour belongs to the most interesting subcategories of prosocial and altruistic behaviour encountered in the animal world. Several studies suggested that ants are able to identify what exactly restrains the movements of another individual and to direct their rescue behaviour precisely to that object. To shed more light on the question of how precise the identification of the source of restraint of another ant is, we investigated rescue behaviour of red wood ant Formica polyctena workers, using a new version of an artificial snare bioassay in which a nestmate victim bore two wire loops on its body, one (acting as a snare) placed on its petiole and an additional one on its leg. The tested ants did not preferentially direct their rescue behaviour towards the snare. Moreover, the overall strategy adopted by the most active rescuers was not limited to precisely targeted rescue attempts directed towards the snare, but consisted of frequent switching between various subcategories of rescue behaviour. These findings highlight the importance of precise identification of cognitive processes and overall behavioural strategies for better understanding of causal factors underlying animal helping behaviour in light of new facts discovered by testing of various successive research hypotheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Szczuka
- Laboratory of Ethology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Ludwika Pasteura St. 3, PL 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Alicja Sochacka-Marlowe
- Laboratory of Ethology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Ludwika Pasteura St. 3, PL 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
- Department of Biology and Integrated Bioscience Program, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA
| | - Julita Korczyńska
- Laboratory of Ethology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Ludwika Pasteura St. 3, PL 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Paweł Jarosław Mazurkiewicz
- Laboratory of Ethology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Ludwika Pasteura St. 3, PL 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
- College of Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in Mathematics and Natural Sciences (MISMaP), University of Warsaw, Stefana Banacha St. 2c, PL 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Beata Symonowicz
- Laboratory of Ethology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Ludwika Pasteura St. 3, PL 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Olga Kukina
- Laboratory of Ethology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Ludwika Pasteura St. 3, PL 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
- Department of Entomology, Phytopathology and Physiology, Ukrainian Research Institute of Forestry and Forest Melioration, Pushkinska St. 86, 61024 Kharkiv, Ukraine
| | - Ewa Joanna Godzińska
- Laboratory of Ethology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Ludwika Pasteura St. 3, PL 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
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2
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Jiang Y, Deng X, Shih C, Zhao Y, Ren D, Zhao Z. Primitive new termites (Blattodea, Termitoidae) in Cretaceous amber from Myanmar. Zookeys 2024; 1197:115-126. [PMID: 38651112 PMCID: PMC11033552 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1197.114452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Mastotermitidae, the first-diverging extant family of termites, has only one relic extant species; however, this family had greater richness during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. Fossil termites from the Cretaceous provide information on the early evolution of termites and the transition between extinct families. Herein, two new Mastotermitidae species found in upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Kachin amber are reported. One is a female imago described as Angustitermesreflexusgen. et sp. nov. and assigned to the subfamily Mastotermitinae. The other is Mastotermesreticulatussp. nov., which is described from an isolated forewing. With the comparison especially of the antenna and venation, these new mastotermitids further increase our knowledge of the diversity and morphology of Mastotermitidae during the Mesozoic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yurong Jiang
- Fishery Resource and Environment Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Beijing, ChinaCapital Normal UniversityBeijingChina
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, ChinaChinese Academy of Fishery SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Xinru Deng
- Fishery Resource and Environment Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Beijing, ChinaCapital Normal UniversityBeijingChina
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, ChinaChinese Academy of Fishery SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Chungkun Shih
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, ChinaChinese Academy of Fishery SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USANational Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian InstitutionWashington, DCUnited States of America
| | - Yunyun Zhao
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, ChinaChinese Academy of Fishery SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Dong Ren
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, ChinaChinese Academy of Fishery SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Zhipeng Zhao
- Fishery Resource and Environment Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Beijing, ChinaCapital Normal UniversityBeijingChina
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Imirzian N, Püffel F, Roces F, Labonte D. Large deformation diffeomorphic mapping of 3D shape variation reveals two distinct mandible and head capsule morphs in Atta vollenweideri leaf-cutter worker ants. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11236. [PMID: 38633523 PMCID: PMC11021802 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Revised: 02/21/2024] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Ants are crucial ecosystem engineers, and their ecological success is facilitated by a division of labour among sterile "workers". In some ant lineages, workers have undergone further morphological differentiation, resulting in differences in body size, shape, or both. Distinguishing between changes in size and shape is not trivial. Traditional approaches based on allometry reduce complex 3D shapes into simple linear, areal, or volume metrics; modern approaches using geometric morphometrics typically rely on landmarks, introducing observer bias and a trade-off between effort and accuracy. Here, we use a landmark-free method based on large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping (LDDMM) to assess the co-variation of size and 3D shape in the mandibles and head capsules of Atta vollenweideri leaf-cutter ants, a species exhibiting extreme worker size-variation. Body mass varied by more than two orders of magnitude, but a shape atlas created via LDDMM on μ-CT-derived 3D mesh files revealed only two distinct head capsule and mandibles shapes-one for the minims (body mass < 1 mg) and one for all other workers. We discuss the functional significance of the identified 3D shape variation, and its implications for the evolution of extreme polymorphism in Atta.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Flavio Roces
- Department of Behavioural Physiology and SociobiologyBiocenter, University of WürzburgWürzburgGermany
| | - David Labonte
- Department of BioengineeringImperial College LondonLondonUK
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Chen J, Guan Z, Ma Y, Shi Q, Chen T, Waris MI, Lyu L, Lu Y, Qi G. Juvenile hormone induces reproduction via miR-1175-3p in the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. Insect Sci 2024; 31:371-386. [PMID: 37933419 DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.13291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2023] [Revised: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/08/2023]
Abstract
Juvenile hormone (JH) acts in the regulation of caste differentiation between queens and workers (i.e., with or without reproductive capacity) during vitellin synthesis and oogenesis in social insects. However, the regulatory mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. Here, we identified a highly expressed microRNA (miRNA), miR-1175-3p, in the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. We found that miR-1175-3p is prominently present in the fat bodies and ovaries of workers. Furthermore, miR-1175-3p interacts with its target gene, broad-complex core (Br-C), in the fat bodies. By utilizing miR-1175-3p agomir, we successfully suppressed the expression of the Br-C protein in queens, resulting in reduced vitellogenin expression, fewer eggs, and poorly developed ovaries. Conversely, decreasing miR-1175-3p levels led to the increased expression of Br-C and vitellogenin in workers, triggering the "re-development" of the ovaries. Moreover, when queens were fed with JH, the expression of miR-1175-3p decreased, whereas the expression of vitellogenin-2 and vitellogenin-3 increased. Notably, the suppression of fertility in queens caused by treatment with agomir miR-1175-3p was completely rescued by the increased vitellogenin expression induced by being fed with JH. These results suggest the critical role of miR-1175-3p in JH-regulated reproduction, shedding light on the molecular mechanism underlying miRNA-mediated fecundity in social insects and providing a novel strategy for managing S. invicta.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Chen
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ziying Guan
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yunjie Ma
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qingxing Shi
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ting Chen
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
| | - Muhammad Irfan Waris
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lihua Lyu
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yongyue Lu
- Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Guojun Qi
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
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5
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Chen J, Guan Z, Sun L, Fan X, Wang D, Yu X, Lyu L, Qi G. N 6-methyladenosine modification of RNA controls dopamine synthesis to influence labour division in ants. Mol Ecol 2024; 33:e17322. [PMID: 38501589 DOI: 10.1111/mec.17322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Revised: 03/03/2024] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
Abstract
The N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification of RNA has been reported to remodel gene expression in response to environmental conditions; however, the biological role of m6A in social insects remains largely unknown. In this study, we explored the role of m6A in the division of labour by worker ants (Solenopsis invicta). We first determined the presence of m6A in RNAs from the brains of worker ants and found that m6A methylation dynamics differed between foragers and nurses. Depletion of m6A methyltransferase or chemical suppression of m6A methylation in foragers resulted in a shift to 'nurse-like' behaviours. Specifically, mRNAs of dopamine receptor 1 (Dop1) and dopamine transporter (DAT) were modified by m6A, and their expression increased dopamine levels to promote the behavioural transition from foragers to nurses. The abundance of Dop1 and DAT mRNAs and their stability were reduced by the inhibition of m6A modification caused by the silencing of Mettl3, suggesting that m6A modification in worker ants modulates dopamine synthesis, which regulates labour division. Collectively, our results provide the first example of the epitranscriptomic regulation of labour division in social insects and implicate m6A regulatory mechanism as a potential novel target for controlling red imported fire ants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Chen
- Plant Protection Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Ziying Guan
- Plant Protection Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Lina Sun
- Plant Protection Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
- Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Xinlin Fan
- Plant Protection Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
- Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Desen Wang
- Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Xiaoqiang Yu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental Biology and Applied Technology, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Insect Development Regulation and Application Research, Institute of Insect Science and Technology, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lihua Lyu
- Plant Protection Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Guojun Qi
- Plant Protection Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
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Abstract
The allometric scaling of metabolic rate and what drives it are major questions in biology with a long history. Since the metabolic rate at any level of biological organization is an emergent property of its lower-level constituents, it is an outcome of the intrinsic heterogeneity among these units and the interactions among them. However, the influence of lower-level heterogeneity on system-level metabolic rate is difficult to investigate, given the tightly integrated body plan of unitary organisms. In this context, social insects such as honeybees can serve as important model systems because unlike unitary organisms, these superorganisms can be taken apart and reassembled in different configurations to study metabolic rate and its various drivers at different levels of organization. This commentary discusses the background of such an approach and how combining it with artificial selection to generate heterogeneity in metabolic rate with an analytical framework to parse out the different mechanisms that contribute to the effects of heterogeneity can contribute to the various models of metabolic scaling. Finally, the absence of the typical allometric scaling relationship among different species of honeybees is discussed as an important prospect for deciphering the role of top-down ecological factors on metabolic scaling. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolutionary significance of variation in metabolic rates'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dhruba Naug
- Department of Biology, Colorado State University, 1878 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
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7
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Csata E, Pérez-Escudero A, Laury E, Leitner H, Latil G, Heinze J, Simpson SJ, Cremer S, Dussutour A. Fungal infection alters collective nutritional intake of ant colonies. Curr Biol 2024; 34:902-909.e6. [PMID: 38307022 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Revised: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 02/04/2024]
Abstract
In animals, parasitic infections impose significant fitness costs.1,2,3,4,5,6 Infected animals can alter their feeding behavior to resist infection,7,8,9,10,11,12 but parasites can manipulate animal foraging behavior to their own benefits.13,14,15,16 How nutrition influences host-parasite interactions is not well understood, as studies have mainly focused on the host and less on the parasite.9,12,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 We used the nutritional geometry framework24 to investigate the role of amino acids (AA) and carbohydrates (C) in a host-parasite system: the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, and the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium brunneum. First, using 18 diets varying in AA:C composition, we established that the fungus performed best on the high-amino-acid diet 1:4. Second, we found that the fungus reached this optimal diet when given various diet pairings, revealing its ability to cope with nutritional challenges. Third, we showed that the optimal fungal diet reduced the lifespan of healthy ants when compared with a high-carbohydrate diet but had no effect on infected ants. Fourth, we revealed that infected ant colonies, given a choice between the optimal fungal diet and a high-carbohydrate diet, chose the optimal fungal diet, whereas healthy colonies avoided it. Lastly, by disentangling fungal infection from host immune response, we demonstrated that infected ants foraged on the optimal fungal diet in response to immune activation and not as a result of parasite manipulation. Therefore, we revealed that infected ant colonies chose a diet that is costly for survival in the long term but beneficial in the short term-a form of collective self-medication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enikő Csata
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062 Toulouse, France; Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland; Institute for Zoology, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, 93040 Regensburg, Germany.
| | - Alfonso Pérez-Escudero
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062 Toulouse, France
| | - Emmanuel Laury
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062 Toulouse, France
| | - Hanna Leitner
- ISTA (Institute of Science and Technology Austria), Am Campus 1, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria
| | - Gérard Latil
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062 Toulouse, France
| | - Jürgen Heinze
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Stephen J Simpson
- Charles Perkins Centre and School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Sylvia Cremer
- ISTA (Institute of Science and Technology Austria), Am Campus 1, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria
| | - Audrey Dussutour
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062 Toulouse, France
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Holmberg I, Tolonen L, Paviala J, Pedersen JS, Helanterä H, Viljakainen L. Positive selection has shaped the evolution of Argentine ant immune genes both in native and introduced supercolonies. J Evol Biol 2024; 37:131-140. [PMID: 38366252 DOI: 10.1093/jeb/voad014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 09/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2024]
Abstract
The highly invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) started its colonisation from the species' native range in South America approximately 150 years ago and has since become one of the major pests in the world. We investigated how the shifts into new ranges have affected the evolution of Argentine ants' immune genes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first broadscale population genetic study focusing on ants' immune genes. We analysed comprehensive targeted-seq data of immune and non-immune genes containing 174 genes from 18 Argentine ant supercolonies covering the species' native and introduced ranges. We predicted that the immune gene evolution of introduced supercolonies differs from that of the native supercolonies and proposed two different, non-mutually exclusive hypotheses for this: 1) the enemy release hypothesis and 2) the higher pathogen pressure hypothesis - both of which seem to explain the observed evolutionary patterns on their behalf. Our results show that the introduced supercolonies were targeted by weaker selection than natives, but positive selection was evident among supercolonies of both ranges. Moreover, in some cases, such as the antiviral RNAi genes, introduced range supercolonies harboured a higher proportion of positively selected genes than natives. This observation was striking, knowing the recent demographic history and the detected generally lower selection efficacy of introduced supercolonies. In conclusion, it is evident that pathogen pressure is ubiquitous and strongly affects the immune gene evolution in Argentine ants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ida Holmberg
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Lassi Tolonen
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Jenni Paviala
- Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jes Søe Pedersen
- Department of Biology, Section for Ecology and Evolution, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Heikki Helanterä
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Lumi Viljakainen
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
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Taylor BA, Taylor D, Bodrug‐Schepers A, Câmara Ferreira F, Stralis‐Pavese N, Himmelbauer H, Guigó R, Reuter M, Sumner S. Molecular signatures of alternative reproductive strategies in a facultatively social hover wasp. Mol Ecol 2024; 33:e17217. [PMID: 38014715 PMCID: PMC10953455 DOI: 10.1111/mec.17217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 11/09/2023] [Accepted: 11/13/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
Social insect reproductives and non-reproductives represent ideal models with which to understand the expression and regulation of alternative phenotypes. Most research in this area has focused on the developmental regulation of reproductive phenotypes in obligately social taxa such as honey bees, while relatively few studies have addressed the molecular correlates of reproductive differentiation in species in which the division of reproductive labour is established only in plastic dominance hierarchies. To address this knowledge gap, we generate the first genome for any stenogastrine wasp and analyse brain transcriptomic data for non-reproductives and reproductives of the facultatively social species Liostenogaster flavolineata, a representative of one of the simplest forms of social living. By experimentally manipulating the reproductive 'queues' exhibited by social colonies of this species, we show that reproductive division of labour in this species is associated with transcriptomic signatures that are more subtle and variable than those observed in social taxa in which colony living has become obligate; that variation in gene expression among non-reproductives reflects their investment into foraging effort more than their social rank; and that genes associated with reproductive division of labour overlap to some extent with those underlying division of labour in the separate polistine origin of wasp sociality but only explain a small portion of overall variation in this trait. These results indicate that broad patterns of within-colony transcriptomic differentiation in this species are similar to those in Polistinae but offer little support for the existence of a strongly conserved 'toolkit' for sociality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin A. Taylor
- Centre for Biodiversity & Environment ResearchUniversity College LondonLondonUK
- Department of Genetics, Evolution & EnvironmentUniversity College LondonLondonUK
| | - Daisy Taylor
- School of Biological SciencesUniversity of BristolBristolUK
| | | | | | - Nancy Stralis‐Pavese
- Department of BiotechnologyUniversity of Natural Resources and Life SciencesViennaAustria
| | - Heinz Himmelbauer
- Department of BiotechnologyUniversity of Natural Resources and Life SciencesViennaAustria
| | - Roderic Guigó
- Centre for Genomic RegulationBarcelona Institute of Science and TechnologyBarcelonaSpain
- Universitat Pompeu FabraBarcelonaSpain
| | - Max Reuter
- Department of Genetics, Evolution & EnvironmentUniversity College LondonLondonUK
- Centre for Life's Origins and EvolutionUniversity College LondonLondonUK
| | - Seirian Sumner
- Centre for Biodiversity & Environment ResearchUniversity College LondonLondonUK
- Department of Genetics, Evolution & EnvironmentUniversity College LondonLondonUK
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10
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Hasenjager MJ, Hoppitt W, Cunningham-Eurich I, Franks VR, Leadbeater E. Coupled information networks drive honeybee (Apis mellifera) collective foraging. J Anim Ecol 2024; 93:71-82. [PMID: 38009606 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.14029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 10/13/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
Collective behaviour by eusocial insect colonies is typically achieved through multiple communication networks that produce complex behaviour at the group level but often appear to provide redundant or even competing information. A classic example occurs in honeybee (Apis mellifera) colonies, where both the dance communication system and robust scent-based mechanisms contribute to the allocation of a colony's workforce by regulating the flow of experienced foragers among known food sources. Here we analysed social connectivity patterns during the reactivation of experienced foragers to familiar feeding sites to show that these social information pathways are not simply multiple means to achieve the same end but intersect to play complementary roles in guiding forager behaviour. Using artificial feeding stations, we mimicked a natural scenario in which two forager groups were simultaneously collecting from distinct patches containing different flowering species. We then observed the reactivation of these groups at their familiar feeding sites after interrupting their foraging. Social network analysis revealed that temporarily unemployed individuals interacted more often and for longer with foragers that advertised a familiar versus unfamiliar foraging site. Due to such resource-based assortative mixing, network-based diffusion analysis estimated that reactivation events primarily resulted from interactions among bees that had been trained to the same feeding station and less so from different-feeder interactions. Both scent- and dance-based interactions strongly contributed to reactivation decisions. However, each bout of dance-following had an especially strong effect on a follower's likelihood of reactivation, particularly when dances indicated locations familiar to followers. Our findings illustrate how honeybee foragers can alter their social connectivity in ways that are likely to enhance collective outcomes by enabling foragers to rapidly access up-to-date information about familiar foraging sites. In addition, our results highlight how reliance on multiple communication mechanisms enables social insect workers to utilise flexible information-use strategies that are robust to variation in the availability of social information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J Hasenjager
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
- National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK
| | - William Hoppitt
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK
| | - Iona Cunningham-Eurich
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK
- Natural History Museum, London, UK
- Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment, University College London, London, UK
| | - Victoria R Franks
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Chester, Chester, UK
| | - Ellouise Leadbeater
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK
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11
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Martin R, Leroy C, Maák I, d'Ettorre P. Group phenotypic composition drives task performances in ants. Biol Lett 2024; 20:20230463. [PMID: 38195057 PMCID: PMC10776233 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Differences in individual behaviour within a group can give rise to functional dissimilarities between groups, particularly in social animals. However, how individual behavioural phenotypes translate into the group phenotype remains unclear. Here, we investigate whether individual behavioural type affects group performance in a eusocial species, the ant Aphaenogaster senilis. We measured individual behavioural traits and created groups of workers with similar behavioural type, either high-exploratory or low-exploratory workers. We tested these groups in four different, ecologically relevant, tasks: reaction to an intruder, prey retrieval from a maze, nest relocation and tool use. We show that, compared to groups of low-exploratory workers, groups of high-exploratory workers were more aggressive towards intruders, more efficient in collecting prey, faster in nest relocation and more likely to perform tool use. Our results demonstrate a strong link between individual and collective behaviour in ants. This supports the 'behavioural type hypothesis' for group dynamics, which suggests that an individual's behaviour in a social environment reflects its own behavioural type. The average behavioural phenotype of a group can therefore be predicted from the behavioural types of individual group members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rayanne Martin
- Laboratory of Experimental and Comparative Ethology (LEEC), UR 4443, University Sorbonne Paris Nord, 99 Avenue J.-B. Clément, 93430 Villetaneuse, France
| | - Chloé Leroy
- Laboratory of Experimental and Comparative Ethology (LEEC), UR 4443, University Sorbonne Paris Nord, 99 Avenue J.-B. Clément, 93430 Villetaneuse, France
| | - István Maák
- Department of Ecology, University of Szeged, Közép fasor 52, 6726 Szeged, Hungary
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wilcza 64, 00679 Warszawa, Poland
| | - Patrizia d'Ettorre
- Laboratory of Experimental and Comparative Ethology (LEEC), UR 4443, University Sorbonne Paris Nord, 99 Avenue J.-B. Clément, 93430 Villetaneuse, France
- Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
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12
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Brahma A, Frank DD, Pastor PDH, Piekarski PK, Wang W, Luo JD, Carroll TS, Kronauer DJC. Transcriptional and post-transcriptional control of odorant receptor choice in ants. Curr Biol 2023; 33:5456-5466.e5. [PMID: 38070504 PMCID: PMC11025690 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.11.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 10/07/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
Insects and mammals have independently evolved odorant receptor genes that are arranged in large genomic tandem arrays. In mammals, each olfactory sensory neuron chooses to express a single receptor in a stochastic process that includes substantial chromatin rearrangements. Here, we show that ants, which have the largest odorant receptor repertoires among insects, employ a different mechanism to regulate gene expression from tandem arrays. Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing, we found that ant olfactory sensory neurons choose different transcription start sites along an array but then produce mRNA from many downstream genes. This can result in transcripts from dozens of receptors being present in a single nucleus. Such rampant receptor co-expression at first seems difficult to reconcile with the narrow tuning of the ant olfactory system. However, RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization showed that only mRNA from the most upstream transcribed odorant receptor seems to reach the cytoplasm where it can be translated into protein, whereas mRNA from downstream receptors gets sequestered in the nucleus. This implies that, despite the extensive co-expression of odorant receptor genes, each olfactory sensory neuron ultimately only produces one or very few functional receptors. Evolution has thus found different molecular solutions in insects and mammals to the convergent challenge of selecting small subsets of receptors from large odorant receptor repertoires.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anindita Brahma
- Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
| | - Dominic D Frank
- Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - P Daniel H Pastor
- Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Patrick K Piekarski
- Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Wei Wang
- Bioinformatics Resource Center, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Ji-Dung Luo
- Bioinformatics Resource Center, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Thomas S Carroll
- Bioinformatics Resource Center, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Daniel J C Kronauer
- Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York, NY 10065, USA.
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13
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Ren Q, Ma L, Zhang X, Chen L, Mao Z, Li D, Zhang L, Jiang X. Effect of Juvenile Hormone on Worker Behavioral Transition in the Red Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insects 2023; 14:934. [PMID: 38132607 PMCID: PMC10743645 DOI: 10.3390/insects14120934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Revised: 12/03/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
The division of labor among workers is a defining characteristic of social insects and plays a pivotal role in enhancing the competitive advantage of their colony. Juvenile hormone (JH) has long been hypothesized to be the essential driver in regulating the division of labor due to its ability to accelerate behavioral transitions in social insects, such as honeybees. The regulation of behavioral transitions by JH in the red imported fire ant (RIFA), Solenopsis invicta, a typical social pest, is unclear. Through video capture and analysis, we investigated the effects of the juvenile hormone analogue (JHA) methoprene on brood care, phototaxis behavior, and threat responsiveness of RIFA nurse workers. Our results showed that the JHA application significantly reduced the time and frequency of brood care behavior by nurse workers while increasing their walking distance and activity time in the light area. Additionally, the application of JHA made ants become excited, indicating a significant improvement in their activity level (movement distance, time, and speed). Furthermore, it was observed that the application of JHA did not affect the threat responsiveness of nurse workers towards stimuli (nestmates or non-nestmates). Our study demonstrates that the application of JHA reduced brood care behavior and enhanced phototaxis in nurse workers, which may reveal the role of JH in facilitating behavioral transitions in RIFA from intranidal tasks to extranidal activity. This study provides an experimental basis for further elucidating the mechanism underlying the division of labor in social insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qilin Ren
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.R.); (L.M.); (X.Z.)
| | - Lin Ma
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.R.); (L.M.); (X.Z.)
| | - Xiaolong Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.R.); (L.M.); (X.Z.)
| | - Libiao Chen
- Guangxi Green City Pest Control Technology Co., Ltd., Nanning 530007, China;
| | - Zhigang Mao
- Guangxi Beitou Urban Environmental Governance Group Co., Ltd., Nanning 530000, China; (Z.M.); (D.L.)
| | - Dongdong Li
- Guangxi Beitou Urban Environmental Governance Group Co., Ltd., Nanning 530000, China; (Z.M.); (D.L.)
| | - Lei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.R.); (L.M.); (X.Z.)
| | - Xingfu Jiang
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing 100193, China; (Q.R.); (L.M.); (X.Z.)
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14
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Scarparo G, Palanchon M, Brelsford A, Purcell J. Social antagonism facilitates supergene expansion in ants. Curr Biol 2023; 33:5085-5095.e4. [PMID: 37979579 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 11/20/2023]
Abstract
Antagonistic selection has long been considered a major driver of the formation and expansion of sex chromosomes. For example, sexually antagonistic variation on an autosome can select for suppressed recombination between that autosome and the sex chromosome, leading to a neo-sex chromosome. Autosomal supergenes, chromosomal regions containing tightly linked variants affecting the same complex trait, share similarities with sex chromosomes, raising the possibility that sex chromosome evolution models can explain the evolution of genome structure and recombination in other contexts. We tested this premise in a Formica ant species, wherein we identified four supergene haplotypes on chromosome 3 underlying colony social organization and sex ratio. We discovered a novel rearranged supergene variant (9r) on chromosome 9 underlying queen miniaturization. The 9r is in strong linkage disequilibrium with one chromosome 3 haplotype (P2) found in multi-queen (polygyne) colonies. We suggest that queen miniaturization is strongly disfavored in the single-queen (monogyne) background and is thus socially antagonistic. As such, divergent selection experienced by ants living in alternative social "environments" (monogyne and polygyne) may have contributed to the emergence of a genetic polymorphism on chromosome 9 and associated queen-size dimorphism. Consequently, an ancestral polygyne-associated haplotype may have expanded to include the polymorphism on chromosome 9, resulting in a larger region of suppressed recombination spanning two chromosomes. This process is analogous to the formation of neo-sex chromosomes and consistent with models of expanding regions of suppressed recombination. We propose that miniaturized queens, 16%-20% smaller than queens without 9r, could be incipient intraspecific social parasites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Scarparo
- Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, 165 Entomology Bldg. Citrus Drive, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
| | - Marie Palanchon
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, 2710 Life Science Bldg., Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Alan Brelsford
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, 2710 Life Science Bldg., Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Jessica Purcell
- Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, 165 Entomology Bldg. Citrus Drive, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
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15
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Negroni MA, LeBoeuf AC. Social administration of juvenile hormone to larvae increases body size and nutritional needs for pupation. R Soc Open Sci 2023; 10:231471. [PMID: 38126067 PMCID: PMC10731321 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.231471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Social insects often display extreme variation in body size and morphology within the same colony. In many species, adult morphology is socially regulated by workers during larval development. While larval nutrition may play a role in this regulation, it is often difficult to identify precisely what larvae receive from rearing workers, especially when larvae are fed through social regurgitation. Across insects, juvenile hormone is a major regulator of development. In the ant Camponotus floridanus, this hormone is present in the socially regurgitated fluid of workers. We investigated the role the social transfer of juvenile hormone in the social regulation of development. To do this, we administered an artificial regurgitate to larvae through a newly developed handfeeding method that was or was not supplemented with juvenile hormone. Orally administered juvenile hormone increased the nutritional needs of larvae, allowing them to reach a larger size at pupation. Instead of causing them to grow faster, the juvenile hormone treatment extended larval developmental time, allowing them to accumulate resources over a longer period. Handfeeding ant larvae with juvenile hormone resulted in larger adult workers after metamorphosis, suggesting a role for socially transferred juvenile hormone in the colony-level regulation of worker size over colony maturation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matteo A. Negroni
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Adria C. LeBoeuf
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, UK
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16
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Chen J, Ma Y, Guan Z, Liu Q, Shi Q, Qi G, Chen T, Lyu L. Labor division of worker ants can be controlled by insulin synthesis targeted through miR-279c-5p in Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Pest Manag Sci 2023; 79:5029-5043. [PMID: 37552557 DOI: 10.1002/ps.7704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Revised: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/10/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND In social insects, the labor division of workers is ubiquitous and controlled by genetic and environmental factors. However, how they modulate this coordinately remains poorly understood. RESULTS We report miR-279c-5p participation in insulin synthesis and behavioral transition by negatively regulating Rab8A in Solenopsis invicta. Eusocial specific miR-279c-5p is age-associated and highly expressed in nurse workers, and localized in the cytoplasm of neurons, where it is partly co-localized with its target, Rab8A. We determined that miR-279c-5p agomir suppressed Rab8A expression in forager workers, consequently decreasing insulin content, resulting in the behavioral shift to 'nurse-like' behaviors, while the decrease in miR-279c-5p increased Rab8A expression and increased insulin content in nurse workers, leading to the behavioral shift to 'foraging-like' behaviors. Moreover, insulin could rescue the 'foraging behavior' induced by feeding miR-279c-5p to nurse workers. The overexpression and suppression of miR-279c-5p in vivo caused an obvious behavioral transition between foragers and nurses, and insulin synthesis was affected by miR-279c-5p by regulating the direct target Rab8A. CONCLUSION We first report that miR-279c-5p is a novel regulator that promotes labor division by negatively regulating the target gene Rab8A by controlling insulin production in ants. This miRNA-mediated mechanism is significant for understanding the behavioral plasticity of social insects between complex factors and potentially provides new targets for controlling red imported fire ants. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Chen
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yunjie Ma
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ziying Guan
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qin Liu
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qingxing Shi
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
| | - Guojun Qi
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ting Chen
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lihua Lyu
- Institute of Plant Protection, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Guangzhou, China
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17
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Doering GN, Lee CL, Dalnoki-Veress K. Synchronized locomotion can improve spatial accessibility inside ant colonies. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20231805. [PMID: 38018098 PMCID: PMC10685122 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 11/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Synchronization is a conspicuous form of collective behaviour that is of crucial importance in numerous biological systems. Ant colonies from the genera Leptothorax and Temnothorax form small colonies, typically made up of only a few hundred workers, and exhibit a form of synchronized behaviour where workers inside colonies' nests become active together in rhythmic cycles that have a period of approximately 20-200 min. However, it is not currently known if these synchronized rhythms of locomotion confer any functional benefit to colonies. By using a combination of multiple image analysis techniques, we show that inactive Leptothorax ants can act as immobile obstacles to moving ants, and that synchronized activity has the potential to reduce the likelihood that individual ants will encounter regions of immobile obstacles that impede access to portions of the nest. We demonstrate qualitatively similar findings using a computational model of confined active particles with oscillating activity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Carmen L. Lee
- Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
| | - Kari Dalnoki-Veress
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1
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18
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Seistrup AS, Choppin M, Govind S, Feldmeyer B, Kever M, Karaulanov E, Séguret A, Karunanithi S, Almeida MV, Ketting RF, Foitzik S. Age- and caste-independent piRNAs in the germline and miRNA profiles linked to caste and fecundity in the ant Temnothorax rugatulus. Mol Ecol 2023; 32:6027-6043. [PMID: 37830492 DOI: 10.1111/mec.17162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023]
Abstract
Social insects are models for studies of phenotypic plasticity. Ant queens and workers vary in fecundity and lifespan, which are enhanced and extended in queens. Yet, the regulatory mechanisms underlying this variation are not well understood. Ant queens live and reproduce for years, so that they need to protect their germline from transposable element (TE) activity, which may be redundant in short-lived, often sterile workers. We analysed the expression of two protective classes of small RNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs) and Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), in various tissues, castes and age classes of the ant Temnothorax rugatulus. In queens, piRNAs were highly abundant in ovaries with TEs being their clear targets, with reduced but still detectable piRNA-specific ping-pong signatures in thorax and brains. piRNA pathway activity varied little with age in queens. Moreover, the reduced ovaries of workers also exhibited similar piRNA activity and this not only in young, fertile workers, but also in older foragers with regressed ovaries. Therefore, these ants protect their germline through piRNA activity, regardless of ovarian development, age or caste, even in sterile workers often considered the soma of the superorganism. Our tissue-specific miRNA analysis detected the expression of 304 miRNAs, of which 105 were expressed in all tissues, 10 enriched in the brain, three in the thorax, whereas 83 were ovarian-specific. We identified ovarian miRNAs whose expression was related to caste, fecundity and age, and which likely regulate group-specific gene expression. sRNA shifts in young- to middle-aged queens were minor, suggesting delayed senescence in this reproductive caste.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann-Sophie Seistrup
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz, Germany
- International PhD Programme on Gene Regulation, Epigenetics & Genome Stability, Mainz, Germany
| | - Marina Choppin
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Shamitha Govind
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz, Germany
- International PhD Programme on Gene Regulation, Epigenetics & Genome Stability, Mainz, Germany
| | - Barbara Feldmeyer
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), Molecular Ecology, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Marion Kever
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | | | - Alice Séguret
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | | | - Miguel V Almeida
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz, Germany
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - René F Ketting
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz, Germany
- Institute of Developmental Biology and Neurobiology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Susanne Foitzik
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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19
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Sinotte VM, Renelies-Hamilton J, Andreu-Sánchez S, Vasseur-Cognet M, Poulsen M. Selective enrichment of founding reproductive microbiomes allows extensive vertical transmission in a fungus-farming termite. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20231559. [PMID: 37848067 PMCID: PMC10581767 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 09/09/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Mutualistic coevolution can be mediated by vertical transmission of symbionts between host generations. Termites host complex gut bacterial communities with evolutionary histories indicative of mixed-mode transmission. Here, we document that vertical transmission of gut bacterial strains is congruent across parent to offspring colonies in four pedigrees of the fungus-farming termite Macrotermes natalensis. We show that 44% of the offspring colony microbiome, including more than 80 bacterial genera and pedigree-specific strains, are consistently inherited. We go on to demonstrate that this is achieved because colony-founding reproductives are selectively enriched with a set of non-random, environmentally sensitive and termite-specific gut microbes from their colonies of origin. These symbionts transfer to offspring colony workers with high fidelity, after which priority effects appear to influence the composition of the establishing microbiome. Termite reproductives thus secure transmission of complex communities of specific, co-evolved microbes that are critical to their offspring colonies. Extensive yet imperfect inheritance implies that the maturing colony benefits from acquiring environmental microbes to complement combinations of termite, fungus and vertically transmitted microbes; a mode of transmission that is emerging as a prevailing strategy for hosts to assemble complex adaptive microbiomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronica M. Sinotte
- Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen East, Denmark
- Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
| | - Justinn Renelies-Hamilton
- Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen East, Denmark
| | - Sergio Andreu-Sánchez
- Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen East, Denmark
- Department of Paediatrics, University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Mireille Vasseur-Cognet
- UMR IRD 242, UPEC, CNRS 7618, UPMC 113, INRAe 1392, Paris 7 113, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of Paris, Bondy, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France
| | - Michael Poulsen
- Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen East, Denmark
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20
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da Silva IB, Costa-Leonardo AM. On the reproductive strategies post-colony foundation: major termite pest species with distinct ecological habits differ in their oviposition dynamics. Bull Entomol Res 2023; 113:716-724. [PMID: 37694438 DOI: 10.1017/s0007485323000421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
Termite colony foundation precedes the incipient stage, when the first oviposition cycle takes place, followed by months of reproductive inactivity. The royal couple is supposed to cease oviposition during this period, investing energy to care for the first brood. When a suitable number of alloparents differentiate, egg-laying resumes. Here we followed oviposition dynamics, embryo development and queen/king body changes in laboratory colonies of the major pest species Coptotermes gestroi (Rhinotermitidae) and Cryptotermes brevis (Kalotermitidae) during 9 months. We show that they differ in these oviposition dynamics, as C. gestroi queens displayed an uninterrupted oviposition whereas C. brevis laid a cohort of eggs and ceased oviposition during a 3-month period (lag phase). C. gestroi oviposition dynamic was remarkable and suggests that occurrence of progeny was not a limiting factor, thus queens and kings were able to concomitantly invest energy in reproduction and parental care. These findings contrast those reported for rhinotermitids from temperate areas, and we discuss the likely reasons for such a condition, including endogenous rhythms, avoidance of a high mortality rate of the first progeny and adaptation to the weather conditions of the Neotropical region. Oviposition dynamic in C. brevis resembled those of several termite species, in which the royal couple cease reproduction to care for the first brood. Rearing conditions did not influence oviposition dynamics (egg-laying cycle followed by a lag phase), thus our results on the oviposition of C. gestroi and C. brevis correspond to different reproductive strategies post-foundation adopted by these pest species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iago Bueno da Silva
- Departamento de Biologia Geral e Aplicada, Laboratório de Cupins, Instituto de Biociências, UNESP - Univ Estadual Paulista, Av. 24A, No. 1515, 13506-900 Rio Claro, SP, Brazil
| | - Ana Maria Costa-Leonardo
- Departamento de Biologia Geral e Aplicada, Laboratório de Cupins, Instituto de Biociências, UNESP - Univ Estadual Paulista, Av. 24A, No. 1515, 13506-900 Rio Claro, SP, Brazil
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21
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Ju L, Glastad KM, Sheng L, Gospocic J, Kingwell CJ, Davidson SM, Kocher SD, Bonasio R, Berger SL. Hormonal gatekeeping via the blood-brain barrier governs caste-specific behavior in ants. Cell 2023; 186:4289-4309.e23. [PMID: 37683635 PMCID: PMC10807403 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 05/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023]
Abstract
Here, we reveal an unanticipated role of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in regulating complex social behavior in ants. Using scRNA-seq, we find localization in the BBB of a key hormone-degrading enzyme called juvenile hormone esterase (Jhe), and we show that this localization governs the level of juvenile hormone (JH3) entering the brain. Manipulation of the Jhe level reprograms the brain transcriptome between ant castes. Although ant Jhe is retained and functions intracellularly within the BBB, we show that Drosophila Jhe is naturally extracellular. Heterologous expression of ant Jhe into the Drosophila BBB alters behavior in fly to mimic what is seen in ants. Most strikingly, manipulation of Jhe levels in ants reprograms complex behavior between worker castes. Our study thus uncovers a remarkable, potentially conserved role of the BBB serving as a molecular gatekeeper for a neurohormonal pathway that regulates social behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linyang Ju
- Department of Biology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Epigenetics Institute, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Karl M Glastad
- Epigenetics Institute, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Lihong Sheng
- Epigenetics Institute, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Janko Gospocic
- Epigenetics Institute, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Urology and Institute of Neuropathology, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Callum J Kingwell
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Shawn M Davidson
- Lewis-Sigler Institute for Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Sarah D Kocher
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA; Lewis-Sigler Institute for Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Roberto Bonasio
- Epigenetics Institute, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Shelley L Berger
- Department of Biology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Epigenetics Institute, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
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22
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Püffel F, Meyer L, Imirzian N, Roces F, Johnston R, Labonte D. Correction to: 'Developmental biomechanics and age polyethism in leaf-cutter ants' (2023) by Püffel et al.. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20231983. [PMID: 37728277 PMCID: PMC10510440 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1983] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 09/21/2023] Open
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23
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Willot Q, Ørsted M, Malte H, Overgaard J. Cold comfort: metabolic rate and tolerance to low temperatures predict latitudinal distribution in ants. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230985. [PMID: 37670587 PMCID: PMC10510448 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/04/2023] [Indexed: 09/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Metabolic compensation has been proposed as a mean for ectotherms to cope with colder climates. For example, under the metabolic cold adaptation and the metabolic homeostasis hypotheses (MCA and MHH), it has been formulated that cold-adapted ectotherms should display both higher (MCA) and more thermally sensitive (MHH) metabolic rates (MRs) at lower temperatures. However, whether such compensation can truly be associated with distribution, and whether it interplays with cold tolerance to predict species' climatic niches, remains largely unclear despite broad ecological implications thereof. Here, we teased apart the relationship between MRs, cold tolerance and distribution, to test the MCA/MHH among 13 European ant species. We report clear metabolic compensation effects, consistent with the MCA and MHH, where MR parameters strongly correlated with latitude and climatic factors across species' distributions. The combination of both cold tolerance and MRs further upheld the best predictions of species' environmental temperatures and limits of northernmost distribution. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing that the association of metabolic data with cold tolerance supports better predictive models of species' climate and distribution in social insects than models including cold tolerance alone. These results also highlight that adaptation to higher latitudes in ants involved adjustments of both cold tolerance and MRs, to allow this extremely successful group of insects to thrive under colder climates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quentin Willot
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Michael Ørsted
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
- Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg E, Denmark
| | - Hans Malte
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
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24
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Lymbery SJ, Webber BL, Didham RK. Complex battlefields favor strong soldiers over large armies in social animal warfare. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2217973120. [PMID: 37639613 PMCID: PMC10500280 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2217973120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023] Open
Abstract
In social animals, success can depend on the outcome of group battles. Theoretical models of warfare predict that group fighting ability is proportional to two key factors: the strength of each soldier in the group and group size. The relative importance of these factors is predicted to vary across environments [F. W. Lanchester, Aircraft in Warfare, the Dawn of the Fourth Arm (1916)]. Here, we provide an empirical validation of the theoretical prediction that open environments should favor superior numbers, whereas complex environments should favor stronger soldiers [R. N. Franks, L. W. Partridge, Anim. Behav. 45, 197-199 (1993)]. We first demonstrate this pattern using simulated battles between relatively strong and weak soldiers in a computer-driven algorithm. We then validate this result in real animals using an ant model system: In battles in which the number of strong native meat ant Iridomyrmex purpureus workers is constant while the number of weak non-native invasive Argentine ant Linepithema humile workers increases across treatments, fatalities of I. purpureus are lower in complex than in simple arenas. Our results provide controlled experimental evidence that investing in stronger soldiers is more effective in complex environments. This is a significant advance in the empirical study of nonhuman warfare and is important for understanding the competitive balance among native and non-native invasive ant species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel J. Lymbery
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
- Ecosystem Change Ecology Team, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Health and Biosecurity, Floreat, WA6014, Australia
- Centre for Biosecurity and One Health, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA6150, Australia
| | - Bruce L. Webber
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
- Ecosystem Change Ecology Team, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Health and Biosecurity, Floreat, WA6014, Australia
- Western Australian Biodiversity Science Institute, Perth, WA6000, Australia
| | - Raphael K. Didham
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
- Ecosystem Change Ecology Team, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Health and Biosecurity, Floreat, WA6014, Australia
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25
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Ishibashi T, Waliullah ASM, Aramaki S, Kamiya M, Kahyo T, Nakamura K, Tasaki E, Takata M, Setou M, Matsuura K. Plastic brain structure changes associated with the division of labor and aging in termites. Dev Growth Differ 2023; 65:374-383. [PMID: 37357446 DOI: 10.1111/dgd.12873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2023] [Revised: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/27/2023]
Abstract
Division of labor is a prominent feature of social insect societies, where different castes engage in different specialized tasks. As brain differences are associated with behavioral differences, brain anatomy may be linked to caste polymorphism. Here, we show that termite brain morphology changes markedly with caste differentiation and age in the termite, Reticulitermes speratus. Brain morphology was shown to be associated with reproductive division of labor, with reproductive individuals (alates and neotenic reproductives) having larger brains than nonreproductives (workers and soldiers). Micro-computed tomography (CT) imaging and dissection observations showed that the king's brain morphology changed markedly with shrinkage of the optic lobes during their long life in the dark. Behavioral experiments showed that mature primary kings lose visual function as a result of optic lobe shrinkage. These results suggested that termites restructure their nervous systems to perform necessary tasks as they undergo caste differentiation, and that they also show flexible changes in brain morphology even after the final molt. This study showed that brain morphology in social insects is linked to caste and aging, and that the evolution of the division of labor is underpinned by the development of diverse neural systems for specialized tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomoki Ishibashi
- Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
- Laboratory for Physical Biology, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, Kobe, Japan
| | - A S M Waliullah
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan
| | - Shuhei Aramaki
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan
- International Mass Imaging Center, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan
- Department of Radiology, Hamamatsu University Hospital, Shizuoka, Japan
| | - Masaki Kamiya
- Department of Radiology, Hamamatsu University Hospital, Shizuoka, Japan
| | - Tomoaki Kahyo
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan
- International Mass Imaging Center, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan
| | | | - Eisuke Tasaki
- Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Mamoru Takata
- Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Mitsutoshi Setou
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan
- International Mass Imaging Center, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan
- Department of Systems Molecular Anatomy, Institute for Medical Photonics Research, Preeminent Medical Photonics Education and Research Center, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan
| | - Kenji Matsuura
- Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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26
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McAuliffe JR. Earthen mounds ( heuweltjies) of South Africa and their termite occupants: applicability of concepts of the extended phenotype, ecosystem engineering and niche construction. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220150. [PMID: 37427482 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Heuweltjies are earthen mounds found throughout the Succulent Karoo of South Africa and are inhabited by the termite Microhodotermes viator. Many have assumed that heuweltjies are constructed by the occupying termites. Consequently, heuweltjies have been used as an example of several important concepts in ecology and evolution: the extended phenotype, ecosystem engineering and niche construction. However, recent findings demonstrate that M. viator does not directly construct heuweltjies. Rather, termite colonies enrich the soil around their nests with plant nutrients, which promotes development of widely separated patches of denser vegetation. Eventual formation of heuweltjies represents a response of the physical environment to the windbreak effect of the denser vegetation patches (localized reduction of wind velocity and resultant deposition and accumulation of airborne sediment). Other structures constructed by the termites are justifiably regarded as extended phenotypes. Identification and investigation of a complex cascade of processes are required to more precisely assess the manner in which this termite species functions as an ecosystem engineer or niche constructor, thereby significantly influencing the availability of resources within local ecosystems. Environmental alterations that are either directly or indirectly generated by social animals that construct large, communal nests represent ecological processes that contribute significantly to local biodiversity. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolutionary ecology of nests: a cross-taxon approach'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph R McAuliffe
- Department of Research, Conservation & Collections, Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, AZ 85008, USA
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27
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Juergens N, Groengroeft A, Gunter F. Evolution at the arid extreme: the influence of climate on sand termite colonies and fairy circles of the Namib Desert. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220149. [PMID: 37427480 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/11/2023] Open
Abstract
In the hyperarid Namib Desert, the sand termite Psammotermes allocerus Silvestri, 1908 (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) establishes colonies that create conspicuous, barren patches known as 'fairy circles' on permeable, sandy soils. The central bare areas of fairy circles serve the key function of storing moisture received from sparse rainfall. The sandy soil texture allows rapid infiltration and percolation of precipitation, while localized herbivory by the termites creates the bare patch, thereby reducing the rapid loss of soil moisture by the uptake and transpiration of water by plants. The resulting storage of rain water even during prolonged periods of drought enables perennial life in hyperarid desert environments and forms a globally unique example of ecosystem engineering by social insects. During the past decade, most publications primarily debated the origin of fairy circles. Here, we contribute to the special issue with a focus on the functional and evolutionary dimension of the structure of the Psammotermes colony with two differing nest types and two spatially separated key resources, as a successful adaptation to extreme desert environment. The paper is primarily a review and a synthesis of previous work, with the inclusion of new, relevant findings. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolutionary ecology of nests: a cross-taxon approach'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Norbert Juergens
- Institute of Plant Science and Microbiology, University of Hamburg, 22609 Hamburg, Germany
| | | | - Felicitas Gunter
- Institute of Plant Science and Microbiology, University of Hamburg, 22609 Hamburg, Germany
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28
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Sulis W, Khan A. Contextuality in Collective Intelligence: Not There Yet. Entropy (Basel) 2023; 25:1193. [PMID: 37628223 PMCID: PMC10452967 DOI: 10.3390/e25081193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2023] [Revised: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023]
Abstract
Type I contextuality or inconsistent connectedness is a fundamental feature of both the classical as well as the quantum realms. Type II contextuality (true contextuality or CHSH-type contextuality) is frequently asserted to be specific to the quantum realm. Nevertheless, evidence for Type II contextuality in classical settings is slowly emerging (at least in the psychological realm). Sign intransitivity can be observed in preference relations in the setting of decision making and so intransitivity in decision making may also yield examples of Type II contextuality. Previously, it was suggested that a fruitful setting in which to search for such contextuality is that of decision making by collective intelligence systems. An experiment was conducted by using a detailed simulation of nest emigration by workers of the ant Temnothorax albipennis. In spite of the intransitivity, these simulated colonies came close to but failed to violate Dzhafarov's inequality for a 4-cyclic system. Further research using more sophisticated simulations and experimental paradigms is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Sulis
- Collective Intelligence Laboratory, McMaster University, 92 Bowman St., Hamilton, ON L8S 2T6, Canada
| | - Ali Khan
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience an Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main St W., Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada;
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29
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Ozan M, Helanterä H, d'Ettorre P, Sundström L. Queen fecundity, worker entourage and cuticular chemistry in the ant Formica fusca. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230861. [PMID: 37554034 PMCID: PMC10410219 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/06/2023] [Indexed: 08/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Cooperative breeding entails conflicts over reproductive shares that may be settled in different ways. In ants, where several queens simultaneously reproduce in a colony, both queens and workers may influence the reproductive apportionment and offspring quality. Queens may vary in their intrinsic fecundity, which may influence the size of the worker entourage attending individual queens, and this may eventually dictate the reproductive output of a queen. We tested whether the reproductive success of queens is affected by the size of their worker entourage, their fecundity at the onset of the reproductive season, and whether the queen cuticular hydrocarbon profile carries information on fecundity. We show that in the ant Formica fusca both queen fecundity and egg hatching success increase with the size of their entourage, and that newly hatched larvae produced by initially highly fecund queens are smaller. Furthermore, higher relatedness among workers increased queen fecundity. Finally, the queens that received a large worker entourage differed in the cuticular chemistry from those that received a small worker entourage. Our results thus show that workers play a pivotal role in determining queen fitness, that high intracolony relatedness among workers enhances the overall reproductive output in the colony, and that queen fecundity is reflected in their cuticular hydrocarbon profile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Ozan
- Organismal and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, 00014, Finland
- Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki, J.A. Palménintie 260, 10900 Hanko, Finland
| | - Heikki Helanterä
- Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki, J.A. Palménintie 260, 10900 Hanko, Finland
- Faculty of Science, Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, 90014, Finland
| | - Patrizia d'Ettorre
- Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée, UR 4443, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Villetaneuse, France
- Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
| | - Liselotte Sundström
- Organismal and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, 00014, Finland
- Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki, J.A. Palménintie 260, 10900 Hanko, Finland
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30
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Püffel F, Meyer L, Imirzian N, Roces F, Johnston R, Labonte D. Developmental biomechanics and age polyethism in leaf-cutter ants. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230355. [PMID: 37312549 PMCID: PMC10265030 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Many social insects display age polyethism: young workers stay inside the nest, and only older workers forage. This behavioural transition is accompanied by genetic and physiological changes, but the mechanistic origin of it remains unclear. To investigate if the mechanical demands on the musculoskeletal system effectively prevent young workers from foraging, we studied the biomechanical development of the bite apparatus in Atta vollenweideri leaf-cutter ants. Fully matured foragers generated peak in vivo bite forces of around 100 mN, more than one order of magnitude in excess of those measured for freshly eclosed callows of the same size. This change in bite force was accompanied by a sixfold increase in the volume of the mandible closer muscle, and by a substantial increase of the flexural rigidity of the head capsule, driven by a significant increase in both average thickness and indentation modulus of the head capsule cuticle. Consequently, callows lack the muscle force capacity required for leaf-cutting, and their head capsule is so compliant that large muscle forces would be likely to cause damaging deformations. On the basis of these results, we speculate that continued biomechanical development post eclosion may be a key factor underlying age polyethism, wherever foraging is associated with substantial mechanical demands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederik Püffel
- Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Lara Meyer
- Faculty of Nature and Engineering, City University of Applied Sciences Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Natalie Imirzian
- Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Flavio Roces
- Department of Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | | | - David Labonte
- Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
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31
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Suenami S, Koto A, Miyazaki R. Basic Structures of Gut Bacterial Communities in Eu social Insects. Insects 2023; 14:insects14050444. [PMID: 37233072 DOI: 10.3390/insects14050444] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2023] [Revised: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Gut bacterial communities assist host animals with numerous functions such as food digestion, nutritional provision, or immunity. Some social mammals and insects are unique in that their gut microbial communities are stable among individuals. In this review, we focus on the gut bacterial communities of eusocial insects, including bees, ants, and termites, to provide an overview of their community structures and to gain insights into any general aspects of their structural basis. Pseudomonadota and Bacillota are prevalent bacterial phyla commonly detected in those three insect groups, but their compositions are distinct at lower taxonomic levels. Eusocial insects harbor unique gut bacterial communities that are shared within host species, while their stability varies depending on host physiology and ecology. Species with narrow dietary habits, such as eusocial bees, harbor highly stable and intraspecific microbial communities, while generalists, such as most ant species, exhibit relatively diverse community structures. Caste differences could influence the relative abundance of community members without significantly altering the taxonomic composition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shota Suenami
- Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8566, Japan
| | - Akiko Koto
- Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8566, Japan
- Computational Bio Big Data Open Innovation Laboratory (CBBD-OIL), AIST, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
| | - Ryo Miyazaki
- Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8566, Japan
- Computational Bio Big Data Open Innovation Laboratory (CBBD-OIL), AIST, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
- Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan
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32
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Baltiansky L, Frankel G, Feinerman O. Emergent regulation of ant foraging frequency through a computationally inexpensive forager movement rule. eLife 2023; 12:77659. [PMID: 37067884 PMCID: PMC10110237 DOI: 10.7554/elife.77659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 04/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Ant colonies regulate foraging in response to their collective hunger, yet the mechanism behind this distributed regulation remains unclear. Previously, by imaging food flow within ant colonies we showed that the frequency of foraging events declines linearly with colony satiation (Greenwald et al., 2018). Our analysis implied that as a forager distributes food in the nest, two factors affect her decision to exit for another foraging trip: her current food load and its rate of change. Sensing these variables can be attributed to the forager's individual cognitive ability. Here, new analyses of the foragers' trajectories within the nest imply a different way to achieve the observed regulation. Instead of an explicit decision to exit, foragers merely tend toward the depth of the nest when their food load is high and toward the nest exit when it is low. Thus, the colony shapes the forager's trajectory by controlling her unloading rate, while she senses only her current food load. Using an agent-based model and mathematical analysis, we show that this simple mechanism robustly yields emergent regulation of foraging frequency. These findings demonstrate how the embedding of individuals in physical space can reduce their cognitive demands without compromising their computational role in the group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lior Baltiansky
- Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Guy Frankel
- Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Ofer Feinerman
- Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
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Abstract
During their lifetime, superorganisms, like unitary organisms, undergo transformations that change the machinery of their collective behaviour. Here, we suggest that these transformations are largely understudied and propose that more systematic research into the ontogeny of collective behaviours is needed if we hope to better understand the link between proximate behavioural mechanisms and the development of collective adaptive functions. In particular, certain social insects engage in self-assemblage, forming dynamic and physically connected architectures with striking similarities to developing multicellular organisms, making them good model systems for ontogenetic studies of collective behaviour. However, exhaustive time series and three-dimensional data are required to thoroughly characterize the different life stages of the collective structures and the transitions between these stages. The well-established fields of embryology and developmental biology offer practical tools and theoretical frameworks that could speed up the acquisition of new knowledge about the formation, development, maturity and dissolution of social insect self-assemblages and, by extension, other superorganismal behaviours. We hope that this review will encourage an expansion of the ontogenetic perspective in the field of collective behaviour and, in particular, in self-assemblage research, which has far-reaching applications in robotics, computer science and regenerative medicine. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Collective behaviour through time'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Simon Garnier
- Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
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34
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Bamisile BS, Siddiqui JA, Nie L, Idrees A, Aguila LCR, Jia C, Xu Y. Baseline Analysis of Endophytic Fungal Associates of Solenopsis invicta Buren from Mounds across Five Counties of Guangdong Province, China. J Fungi (Basel) 2023; 9:jof9030377. [PMID: 36983545 PMCID: PMC10058942 DOI: 10.3390/jof9030377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/17/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Red imported fire ants mounds have been suggested as a potential reservoir for beneficial entomopathogenic fungal species that are vital for more complex roles in the ecosystem aside from infecting the insects. In the current study, the assemblage of fungal symbionts of the red imported fire ants (RIFA) were obtained across five cities in Guangdong Province, China. The sampling areas were selected because of high occurrence of fire ants mounds in the regions. Mound soils, plant debris within mounds, and ants were collected from three sampling locations in each city for potential isolation of entomopathogenic fungal associates of RIFA. All samples were collected during the spring of 2021. Following successful isolation from substrates, the patterns of fungal species composition, and richness were evaluated. In total, 843 isolates were recovered, and based on their phenotypic distinctiveness and molecular characterization based on DNA sequences of multiple loci including the ITS, SSU, and LSU regions, 46 fungal taxa were obtained, including 12 that were unidentified. Species richness and abundance was highest in the mound soils, while the lowest value was recorded from the ant body. As per the different locations, the highest abundance level was recorded in Zhuhai, where 15 fungal taxa were cultivated. The most common taxa across all substrates and locations was Talaromyces diversus. A baseline analysis of the fungal community composition of RIFA would better our understanding on the interactions between these social ants and their associated microbial organisms, and this knowledge in turn would be important for the successful management of the RIFA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bamisope Steve Bamisile
- Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
- Henry Fok School of Biology and Agriculture, Shaoguan University, Shaoguan 512005, China
| | - Junaid Ali Siddiqui
- College of Agriculture, College of Tobacco Science, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
| | - Lei Nie
- Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
| | - Atif Idrees
- Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory for Agricultural Pest Management of the Mountainous Region, Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Crop Pest in Guiyang, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Entomology, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
| | - Luis Carlos Ramos Aguila
- Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China
| | - Chunsheng Jia
- Henry Fok School of Biology and Agriculture, Shaoguan University, Shaoguan 512005, China
| | - Yijuan Xu
- Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
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Tseng SP, Darras H, Hsu PW, Yoshimura T, Lee CY, Wetterer JK, Keller L, Yang CCS. Genetic analysis reveals the putative native range and widespread double-clonal reproduction in the invasive longhorn crazy ant. Mol Ecol 2023; 32:1020-1033. [PMID: 36527320 DOI: 10.1111/mec.16827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2022] [Revised: 12/12/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Clonal reproduction can provide an advantage for invasive species to establish as it can circumvent inbreeding depression which often plagues introduced populations. The world's most widespread invasive ant, Paratrechina longicornis, was previously found to display a double-clonal reproduction system, whereby both males and queens are produced clonally, resulting in separate male and queen lineages, while workers are produced sexually. Under this unusual reproduction mode, inbreeding is avoided in workers as they carry hybrid interlineage genomes. Despite the ubiquitous distribution of P. longicornis, the significance of this reproductive system for the ant's remarkable success remains unclear, as its prevalence is still unknown. Further investigation into the controversial native origin of P. longicornis is also required to reconstruct the evolutionary histories of double-clonal lineages. Here, we examine genetic variation and characterize the reproduction mode of P. longicornis populations sampled worldwide using microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA sequences to infer the ant's putative native range and the distribution of the double-clonal reproductive system. Analyses of global genetic variations indicate that the Indian subcontinent is a genetic diversity hotspot of this species, suggesting that P. longicornis probably originates from this geographical area. Our analyses revealed that both the inferred native and introduced populations exhibit double-clonal reproduction, with queens and males around the globe belonging to two separate, nonrecombining clonal lineages. By contrast, workers are highly heterozygous because they are first-generation interlineage hybrids. Overall, these data indicate a worldwide prevalence of double clonality in P. longicornis and support the prediction that the unusual genetic system may have pre-adapted this ant for global colonization by maintaining heterozygosity in the worker force and alleviating genetic bottlenecks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shu-Ping Tseng
- Department of Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA.,Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Hugo Darras
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Po-Wei Hsu
- Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Tsuyoshi Yoshimura
- Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Chow-Yang Lee
- Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - James K Wetterer
- Wilkes Honors College, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Laurent Keller
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Chin-Cheng Scotty Yang
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
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36
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Subach A, Avidov B, Dorfman A, Bega D, Gilad T, Kvetny M, Reshef MH, Foitzik S, Scharf I. The value of spatial experience and group size for ant colonies in direct competition. Insect Sci 2023; 30:241-250. [PMID: 35696548 PMCID: PMC10084317 DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.13090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 05/30/2022] [Accepted: 05/31/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Animals often search for food more efficiently with experience. However, the contribution of experience to foraging success under direct competition has rarely been examined. Here we used colonies of an individually foraging desert ant to investigate the value of spatial experience. First, we trained worker groups of equal numbers to solve either a complex or a simple maze. We then tested pairs of both groups against one another in reaching a food reward. This task required solving the same complex maze that one of the groups had been trained in, to determine which group would exploit better the food reward. The worker groups previously trained in the complex mazes reached the food reward faster and more of these workers fed on the food than those trained in simple mazes, but only in the intermediate size group. To determine the relative importance of group size versus spatial experience in exploiting food patches, we then tested smaller trained worker groups against larger untrained ones. The larger groups outcompeted the smaller ones, despite the latter's advantage of spatial experience. The contribution of spatial experience, as found here, appears to be small, and depends on group size: an advantage of a few workers of the untrained group over the trained group negates its benefits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aziz Subach
- School of ZoologyGeorge S. Wise Faculty of Life SciencesTel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
| | - Bar Avidov
- School of ZoologyGeorge S. Wise Faculty of Life SciencesTel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
| | - Arik Dorfman
- School of ZoologyGeorge S. Wise Faculty of Life SciencesTel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
| | - Darar Bega
- School of ZoologyGeorge S. Wise Faculty of Life SciencesTel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
| | - Tomer Gilad
- School of ZoologyGeorge S. Wise Faculty of Life SciencesTel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
| | - Mark Kvetny
- Department of GeophysicsFaculty of Exact SciencesTel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
| | - May Hershkovitz Reshef
- School of ZoologyGeorge S. Wise Faculty of Life SciencesTel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
| | - Susanne Foitzik
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular EvolutionJohannes Gutenberg University MainzMainzGermany
| | - Inon Scharf
- School of ZoologyGeorge S. Wise Faculty of Life SciencesTel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
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Konu M, Kulmuni J, Viljakainen L. Genetic modification of the ant Lasius niger using CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Insect Mol Biol 2023; 32:11-25. [PMID: 36030521 PMCID: PMC10087202 DOI: 10.1111/imb.12809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
CRISPR-Cas9 has become one of the most prominent gene editing tools available and it has been utilized in various organisms from bacteria to fungi, plants, and animals. In this study, we developed a CRISPR-Cas9 protocol for the black garden ant Lasius niger, a common and easily available study species for lab and field experiments. To create indel mutations using CRISPR-Cas9 in L. niger, we targeted three different locations in a well-studied eye pigmentation gene cinnabar, generating several mutations that disrupt the ommochrome biosynthesis pathway and result in the lack of the pigment and therefore, abnormal eye coloration in adult workers. We also developed a protocol to collect L. niger eggs, inject them with CRISPR-Cas9 construct, and rear the eggs into mature adult workers with the assistance of nursing workers. We demonstrated for the first time in L. niger that CRISPR-Cas9 is an excellent tool to create targeted mutations for this species. Our protocol can be referred to when developing similar studies for other species of ants and eusocial insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mauno Konu
- Ecology and Genetics Research UnitUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
| | - Jonna Kulmuni
- Organismal and Evolutionary Research ProgrammeUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
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Tarpy DR, Caren JR, Delaney DA. Meta-analysis of genetic diversity and intercolony relatedness among reproductives in commercial honey bee populations. Front Insect Sci 2023; 3:1112898. [PMID: 38469471 PMCID: PMC10926410 DOI: 10.3389/finsc.2023.1112898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
Honey bee colonies are large kin groups, each with a single mother queen and thousands of female workers. Queen bees are highly polyandrous, each mating with an average of approximately 12 drones from other colonies. We used a meta-analysis approach to compare the pedigree relationships of honey bee reproductives (queens and their mates) across five different studies and to quantify the overall genetic diversity of breeding populations. We compared the inferred genotypes of queens and their mates from microsatellite analyses of worker offspring from a feral Africanized honey bee population (which served as a negative control for inbreeding), an experimentally derived population of sister queens (which served as a positive control for inbreeding), and three separate commercially managed populations. We then compared the relatedness of all drones mated to each queen (mate-mate), all queens within each population (queen-queen), each queen with each of her mates (queen-mate), and all drones within each population (drone-drone). We found, as expected, the lowest levels of genetic similarity in the outcrossed population and highest levels of genetic similarity in the inbred population. Levels of genetic similarity among the managed honey bee populations were intermediate but closer to that of the inbred population. Genetic structuring of the entire breeding population resulted in two major subpopulations, likely deriving from breeders on the east and west coast. The effects that these findings have on the overall population genetic diversity of managed honey bees is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- David R. Tarpy
- Department of Applied Ecology, Graduate Program in Biology—Evolution & Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States
| | - Joel R. Caren
- USDA-ARS, Pollinator Health Center, Stoneville, MS, United States
| | - Deborah A. Delaney
- Department of Entomology & Wildlife Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United States
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39
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Abstract
Social insects are among the ecologically most successful collectively living organisms, with efficient division of labour a key feature of this success. Surprisingly, these efficient colonies often have a large proportion of inactive workers in their workforce, sometimes referred to as lazy workers. The dominant hypotheses explaining this are based on specific life-history traits, specific behavioural features or uncertain environments where inactive workers can provide a 'reserve' workforce that can spring into action quickly. While there is a number of experimental studies that show and investigate the presence of inactive workers, mathematical and computational models exploring specific hypotheses are not common. Here, using a simple mathematical model, we show that a parsimonious hypothesis can explain this puzzling social phenomenon. Our model incorporates social interactions and environmental influences into a game-theoretical framework and captures how individuals react to environment by allocating their activity according to environmental conditions. This model shows that inactivity can emerge under specific environmental conditions as a by-product of the task allocation process. Our model confirms the empirical observation that in the case of worker loss, prior homeostatic balance is re-established by replacing some of the lost force with previously inactive workers. Most importantly, our model shows that inactivity in social colonies can be explained without the need to assume an adaptive function for this phenomenon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moein Khajehnejad
- Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Julian García
- Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Bernd Meyer
- Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
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40
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Favreau E, Geist KS, Wyatt CDR, Toth AL, Sumner S, Rehan SM. Co-expression Gene Networks and Machine-learning Algorithms Unveil a Core Genetic Toolkit for Reproductive Division of Labour in Rudimentary Insect Societies. Genome Biol Evol 2022; 15:6926469. [PMID: 36527688 PMCID: PMC9830183 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evac174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2022] [Revised: 12/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The evolution of eusociality requires that individuals forgo some or all their own reproduction to assist the reproduction of others in their group, such as a primary egg-laying queen. A major open question is how genes and genetic pathways sculpt the evolution of eusociality, especially in rudimentary forms of sociality-those with smaller cooperative nests when compared with species such as honeybees that possess large societies. We lack comprehensive comparative studies examining shared patterns and processes across multiple social lineages. Here we examine the mechanisms of molecular convergence across two lineages of bees and wasps exhibiting such rudimentary societies. These societies consist of few individuals and their life histories range from facultative to obligately social. Using six species across four independent origins of sociality, we conduct a comparative meta-analysis of publicly available transcriptomes. Standard methods detected little similarity in patterns of differential gene expression in brain transcriptomes among reproductive and non-reproductive individuals across species. By contrast, both supervised machine learning and consensus co-expression network approaches uncovered sets of genes with conserved expression patterns among reproductive and non-reproductive phenotypes across species. These sets overlap substantially, and may comprise a shared genetic "toolkit" for sociality across the distantly related taxa of bees and wasps and independently evolved lineages of sociality. We also found many lineage-specific genes and co-expression modules associated with social phenotypes and possible signatures of shared life-history traits. These results reveal how taxon-specific molecular mechanisms complement a core toolkit of molecular processes in sculpting traits related to the evolution of eusociality.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Christopher D R Wyatt
- Department of Genetics, Environment, Evolution, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
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41
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Jud SL, Knebel D, Ulrich Y. Intergenerational genotypic interactions drive collective behavioural cycles in a social insect. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20221273. [PMID: 36321497 PMCID: PMC9627708 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Many social animals display collective activity cycles based on synchronous behavioural oscillations across group members. A classic example is the colony cycle of army ants, where thousands of individuals undergo stereotypical biphasic behavioural cycles of about one month. Cycle phases coincide with brood developmental stages, but the regulation of this cycle is otherwise poorly understood. Here, we probe the regulation of cycle duration through interactions between brood and workers in an experimentally amenable army ant relative, the clonal raider ant. We first establish that cycle length varies across clonal lineages using long-term monitoring data. We then investigate the putative sources and impacts of this variation in a cross-fostering experiment with four lineages combining developmental, morphological and automated behavioural tracking analyses. We show that cycle length variation stems from variation in the duration of the larval developmental stage, and that this stage can be prolonged not only by the clonal lineage of brood (direct genetic effects), but also of the workers (indirect genetic effects). We find similar indirect effects of worker line on brood adult size and, conversely (but more surprisingly), indirect genetic effects of the brood on worker behaviour (walking speed and time spent in the nest).
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie L. Jud
- Institute of Integrative Biology, ETHZ Zürich, Zürich 8092, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Knebel
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 8, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Yuko Ulrich
- Institute of Integrative Biology, ETHZ Zürich, Zürich 8092, Switzerland,Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 8, Jena 07745, Germany
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42
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Wu M, Cao X, Yang M, Cao X, Guo S. A dataset of ant colonies' motion trajectories in indoor and outdoor scenes to study clustering behavior. Gigascience 2022; 11:6776178. [PMID: 36305606 PMCID: PMC9614923 DOI: 10.1093/gigascience/giac096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2022] [Revised: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The motion and interaction of social insects (such as ants) have been studied by many researchers to understand clustering mechanisms. Most studies in the field of ant behavior have focused only on indoor environments (a laboratory setup), while outdoor environments (natural environments) are still underexplored. Findings In this article, we collect 10 videos of 3 species of ant colonies from different scenes, including 5 indoor and 5 outdoor scenes. We develop an image sequence marking software named VisualMarkData, which enables us to provide annotations of the ants in the videos. (i) It offers comprehensive annotations of states at the individual-target and colony-target levels. (ii) It provides a simple matrix format to represent multiple targets and multiple groups of annotations (along with their IDs and behavior labels). (iii) During the annotation process, we propose a simple and effective visualization that takes the annotation information of the previous frame as a reference, and then a user can simply click on the center point of each target to complete the annotation task. (iv) We develop a user-friendly window-based GUI to minimize labor and maximize annotation quality. In all 5,354 frames, the location information and the identification number of each ant are recorded for a total of 712 ants and 114,112 annotations. Moreover, we provide visual analysis tools to assess and validate the technical quality and reproducibility of our data. Conclusions We provide a large-scale ant dataset with the accompanying annotation software. It is hoped that our work will contribute to a deeper exploration of the behavior of ant colonies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Ming Yang
- School of Informatics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361000, China
| | - Xiaoyu Cao
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361000, China
| | - Shihui Guo
- Correspondence address. School of Informatics, Xiamen University, Binhai Street, Siming District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province, 361005, China. E-mail:
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43
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Baudier KM, Ostwald MM, Haney BR, Calixto JM, Cossio FJ, Fewell JH. Social Factors in Heat Survival: Multiqueen Desert Ant Colonies Have Higher and More Uniform Heat Tolerance. Physiol Biochem Zool 2022; 95:379-389. [PMID: 35914287 DOI: 10.1086/721251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
AbstractInvestigations of thermally adaptive behavioral phenotypes are critical for both understanding climate as a selective force and predicting global species distributions under climate change conditions. Cooperative nest founding is a common strategy in harsh environments for many species and can enhance growth and competitive advantage, but whether this social strategy has direct effects on thermal tolerance was previously unknown. We examined the effects of alternative social strategies on thermal tolerance in a facultatively polygynous (multiqueen) desert ant, Pogonomyrmex californicus, asking whether and how queen number affects worker thermal tolerances. We established and reared lab colonies with one to four queens, then quantified all colony member heat tolerances (maximum critical temperature [CTmax]). Workers from colonies with more queens had higher and less variant CTmax. Our findings resemble weak link patterns, in which colony group thermal performance is improved by reducing frequencies of the most temperature-vulnerable individuals. Using ambient temperatures from our collection site, we show that multiqueen colonies have thermal tolerance distributions that enable increased midday foraging in hot desert environments. Our results suggest advantages to polygyny under climate change scenarios and raise the question of whether improved thermal tolerance is a factor that has enabled the success of polygyne species in other climatically extreme environments.
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Janda M. Becoming urban - how city life shapes the social structure and genetics of ants. Mol Ecol 2022; 31:4589-4592. [PMID: 35962743 PMCID: PMC9543373 DOI: 10.1111/mec.16657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Cities and urban environments can do peculiar things to biodiversity that shares them with us. How cities affect their invited and uninvited inhabitants has become an increasingly important question. More than half of the world's population dwells in urban areas, and these environments will keep expanding considerably. Understanding how this relatively recent, rapid, and pervasive form of landscape modification influences the ecology and evolution of organisms that cannot escape, or may benefit from it, is an emerging field of biology. Although we are aware of how some birds, mammals or plants respond to urban environments, less is known about insects and invertebrates in general. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Blumenfeld et al. (2022) bring new remarkable insights into how a common ant species adjusts to urban settings across the United States by changing its social structure and behaviour. Using a large‐scale molecular, chemical and behavioural dataset, they document how the odorous house ant Tapinoma sessile differs in its colony organisation and dispersal strategy between rural and urban habitats. In each of the study regions and continent‐wide, rural and urban colonies are genetically and chemically differentiated, suggesting that urban settings act as potent agents of selection and isolation. The novelty and importance of this study are that it documents multiple independent transitions toward the same social organisation and the apparent effect of habitat on the life history of a eusocial insect species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milan Janda
- Investigador Conacyt, Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores Unidad MoreliaUniversidad Nacional Autonoma de MexicoMoreliaMexico
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of SciencePalacky University OlomoucOlomoucCzech Republic
- Institute of EntomologyBiology Centre Czech Academy of SciencesCeske BudejoviceCzech Republic
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45
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Neupert S, Jandt JM, Szyszka P. Sugar alcohols have the potential as bee-safe baits for the common wasp. Pest Manag Sci 2022; 78:3005-3011. [PMID: 35420734 PMCID: PMC9324110 DOI: 10.1002/ps.6925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Revised: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pest insects are often baited with poisoned feeding stimulants, the most common of which are sugars. However, sugars are attractive for most animal species, which makes it difficult to target only a specific pest insect species. Here, we assessed different sugar alcohols for their potential as more species-selective feeding stimulants for pest insects. RESULTS We tested the attractiveness of the sugar alcohols sorbitol, xylitol and erythritol with a capillary feeder assay in wasps (as potential pest insects, because introduced wasps are a pest in many regions) and bees (as non-target insects). For the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris), sorbitol and xylitol acted as nutritive feeding stimulants, and erythritol acted as a non-nutritive feeding stimulant. For the buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris), sorbitol acted as a feeding stimulant, while for the honey bee (Apis mellifera), none of the sugar alcohols acted as feeding stimulant. CONCLUSION The species-specific preferences for sugar alcohols suggest their potential as species-selective insect baits. The wasp-specific preference for xylitol suggests its potential as a bee-safe alternative to sugar-containing bait for controlling the common wasp. © 2022 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Paul Szyszka
- Department of ZoologyUniversity of OtagoDunedinNew Zealand
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46
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Gal A, Kronauer DJC. The emergence of a collective sensory response threshold in ant colonies. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2123076119. [PMID: 35653573 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2123076119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
SignificanceIn this study, we ask how ant colonies integrate information about the external environment with internal state parameters to produce adaptive, system-level responses. First, we show that colonies collectively evacuate the nest when the ground temperature becomes too warm. The threshold temperature for this response is a function of colony size, with larger colonies evacuating the nest at higher temperatures. The underlying dynamics can thus be interpreted as a decision-making process that takes both temperature (external environment) and colony size (internal state) into account. Using mathematical modeling, we show that these dynamics can emerge from a balance between local excitatory and global inhibitory forces acting between the ants. Our findings in ants parallel other complex biological systems like neural circuits.
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47
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Clifton EM, Lewis PO, Jockusch E, Adams E. An experimental test of Lanchester's models of combat in the neotropical termite Nasutitermes corniger (Blattodea: Termitidae). Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20220343. [PMID: 35582801 PMCID: PMC9114941 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Lanchester's models of combat have been invoked to explain the mechanics of group fighting in social animals. Specifically, Lanchester's square law posits that the fighting ability of the group is proportional to the square of the number of combatants. Although used to explain a variety of ecological phenomena, the models have not been thoroughly tested. We tested the Lanchester models using group battles between colonies of the termite Nasutitermes corniger. Our main goals were to determine if mortality rates fit the Lanchester models, and if so, whether the behavioural mechanisms underlying a group's success match those used in deriving the model. We initiated battles between pairs of colonies with different ratios of fighters and recorded deaths over time. We found that the numerically larger army has an advantage, but that the advantage is not as pronounced as predicted by Lanchester's square law. We also video-recorded battles to analyse individual behaviour, which did not support the mechanisms invoked by Lanchester. Instead, the killing power of an individual is increased by the presence of nest-mates, giving the larger group a disproportionate advantage. Although the behavioural mechanisms leading to the advantage may differ, our results still support some of the proposed ecological phenomena.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth M. Clifton
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-3043, USA
| | - Paul O. Lewis
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-3043, USA
| | - Elizabeth Jockusch
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-3043, USA
| | - Eldridge Adams
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-3043, USA
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48
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Rodrigues AMM, Barker JL, Robinson EJH. From inter-group conflict to inter-group cooperation: insights from social insects. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210466. [PMID: 35369743 PMCID: PMC8977659 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 01/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The conflict between social groups is widespread, often imposing significant costs across multiple groups. The social insects make an ideal system for investigating inter-group relationships, because their interaction types span the full harming-helping continuum, from aggressive conflict, to mutual tolerance, to cooperation between spatially separate groups. Here we review inter-group conflict in the social insects and the various means by which they reduce the costs of conflict, including individual or colony-level avoidance, ritualistic behaviours and even group fusion. At the opposite extreme of the harming-helping continuum, social insect groups may peacefully exchange resources and thus cooperate between groups in a manner rare outside human societies. We discuss the role of population viscosity in favouring inter-group cooperation. We present a model encompassing intra- and inter-group interactions, and local and long-distance dispersal. We show that in this multi-level population structure, the increased likelihood of cooperative partners being kin is balanced by increased kin competition, such that neither cooperation (helping) nor conflict (harming) is favoured. This model provides a baseline context in which other intra- and inter-group processes act, tipping the balance toward or away from conflict. We discuss future directions for research into the ecological factors shaping the evolution of inter-group interactions. This article is part of the theme issue 'Intergroup conflict across taxa'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jessica L. Barker
- Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Alaska, Anchorage, AK 99503, USA
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49
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Wang ZY, McKenzie-Smith GC, Liu W, Cho HJ, Pereira T, Dhanerawala Z, Shaevitz JW, Kocher SD. Isolation disrupts social interactions and destabilizes brain development in bumblebees. Curr Biol 2022; 32:2754-2764.e5. [PMID: 35584698 PMCID: PMC9233014 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2021] [Revised: 02/28/2022] [Accepted: 04/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Social isolation, particularly in early life, leads to deleterious physiological and behavioral outcomes. Here, we leverage new high-throughput tools to comprehensively investigate the impact of isolation in the bumblebee, Bombus impatiens, from behavioral, molecular, and neuroanatomical perspectives. We reared newly emerged bumblebees in complete isolation, in small groups, or in their natal colony, and then analyzed their behaviors while alone or paired with another bee. We find that when alone, individuals of each rearing condition show distinct behavioral signatures. When paired with a conspecific, bees reared in small groups or in the natal colony express similar behavioral profiles. Isolated bees, however, showed increased social interactions. To identify the neurobiological correlates of these differences, we quantified brain gene expression and measured the volumes of key brain regions for a subset of individuals from each rearing condition. Overall, we find that isolation increases social interactions and disrupts gene expression and brain development. Limited social experience in small groups is sufficient to preserve typical patterns of brain development and social behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Z Yan Wang
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA; Lewis Sigler Institute of Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Grace C McKenzie-Smith
- Lewis Sigler Institute of Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA; Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Weijie Liu
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Hyo Jin Cho
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Talmo Pereira
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Zahra Dhanerawala
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Joshua W Shaevitz
- Lewis Sigler Institute of Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA; Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Sarah D Kocher
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA; Lewis Sigler Institute of Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
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50
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Jaimes-Nino LM, Heinze J, Oettler J. Late-life fitness gains and reproductive death in Cardiocondyla obscurior ants. eLife 2022; 11:74695. [PMID: 35384839 PMCID: PMC8986319 DOI: 10.7554/elife.74695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A key hypothesis for the occurrence of senescence is the decrease in selection strength due to the decrease in the proportion of newborns from parents attaining an advanced age - the so-called selection shadow. Strikingly, queens of social insects have long lifespans and reproductive senescence seems to be negligible. By lifelong tracking of 99 Cardiocondyla obscurior (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) ant colonies, we find that queens shift to the production of sexuals in late life regardless of their absolute lifespan or the number of workers present. Furthermore, RNAseq analyses of old queens past their peak of reproductive performance showed the development of massive pathology while queens were still fertile, leading to rapid death. We conclude that the evolution of superorganismality is accompanied by 'continuusparity,' a life history strategy that is distinct from other iteroparous and semelparous strategies across the tree of life, in that it combines continuous reproduction with a fitness peak late in life.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jürgen Heinze
- Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Jan Oettler
- Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
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