A social insect fertility signal is dependent on chemical context

Smith, Adrian A.; Millar, Jocelyn G.; Suarez, Andrew V.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2014.0947

Cited by 46 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…So far, studies in bumblebees have found a large amount of different substance classes such as alkanes, alkenes, aldehydes, methyl-branched alkanes, and wax-type esters to allow separation between groups (Ayasse et al 1995;Sramkova et al 2008). Furthermore, in different eusocial insects different substances seem to be driving separation between groups (e.g., Sledge et al 2001;Smith et al 2015). However, in many of the studies of eusocial insects where an influence of ovary development had been found, it was not investigated independently from possible effects like caste membership or insemination.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the effect of insemination and ovary development on the cuticular hydrocarbon profile in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

2015

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-In many social insects, fertility of the reproductive caste is communicated via cuticular chemistry. Changes in cuticular profiles have been correlated to ovarian development. However, an effect of insemination has been neglected in the majority of studies so far. In Bombus terrestris , we stimulated virgin queens to found colonies without being inseminated and compared their cuticular hydrocarbon profile (CHC) to other females in different insemination and breeding statuses. The analysis of the CHC profiles showed an effect of both insemination and ovarian development on the cuticular profile. Thus, insemination besides ovarian development might be received by workers in bumblebees as a potential cue for fertility.breeding status / cuticular profile / fertility / mating / virgin queen

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the effect of insemination and ovary development on the cuticular hydrocarbon profile in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

2015

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“…A shift toward long-chained hydrocarbons also occurs in females of the ponerine ants Pachycondyla inversa (Heinze et al, 2002) and Harpegnathos saltator (Liebig et al, 2000) and it is positively associated with fertility. Recently, it has been shown that some hydrocarbons regulate worker reproduction ("queen pheromones, " Van Oystaeyen et al, 2014), and the rest of the blend may contribute to this effect (Smith et al, 2015). Indeed, obligate social parasites take over the dominant position in social wasp colonies and their chemical signatures match that of the most dominant host female in the colony (Dapporto et al, 2004), supporting the hypothesis that the changes in the chemical signature of parasites are driven by selection for regulating worker reproduction as well as for bypassing host detection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergence in Cuticular Chemical Signatures between Isolated Populations of an Intraspecific Social Parasite

Lorenzi

Azzani

2017

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Parental care is costly enough that species exist which exploit the parental care of other individuals to rear their own brood, as social parasites do among social insects. Intraspecific, facultative social parasites use the nest and worker force of another colony of the same species to rear their own young as a reproductive strategy alternative to independent nest foundation. Intraspecific parasites face barriers similar to those of interspecific social parasites: they must bypass host nestmate recognition abilities and keep host workers under control. In the present study, we investigate the cuticular chemical signature of Polistes biglumis paper wasps when they behave as intraspecific social parasites and invade conspecific colonies. We performed our analysis on three geographically separated populations, which differ in their social structure; in one population foundresses regularly produce workers, whereas in the others they rarely do. We tested whether the chemical signature of females which parasitize conspecific colonies resembles that of females who found their colonies, and if this effect is similar among populations with high and low numbers of workers. Our results show that in the two populations where foundresses produce virtually no workers, the hydrocarbon signatures of intraspecific social parasites were not chemically distinct from those of the foundresses. In contrast, in the population where foundresses usually produce workers, the hydrocarbon signatures of intraspecific social parasites had a significantly larger proportion of long-chained and branched hydrocarbons than those of foundresses. These characteristics may have evolved in that population to facilitate parasite exploitation of the host workforce, as long-chained and branched hydrocarbons are relevant as recognition and fertility cues. The lack of workers in the other populations may have relaxed the selection pressure that host workers impose on the chemical signature of intraspecific social parasites.

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“…Phylogenetic research has revealed that O. relictus is closely related to O. brunneus, whereas O. ruginodis and O. haematodus are more distantly related but in the same New World clade (Spagna et al, 2008;Schmidt, 2009;Larabee, 2015). The cuticular chemical profiles of workers, queens and males of O. brunneus have been described previously (Smith et al, 2012(Smith et al, , 2013(Smith et al, , 2014(Smith et al, , 2015 In the laboratory, multiple colonies of each species were separately housed in two to three interconnected 60×15 mm Petri dishes with plaster-lined bottoms that were moistened twice per week. Colonies received a constant supply of water and 20% sugarwater solution, and were fed twice a week on termites and freezekilled crickets.…”

Section: Materials and Methods Study Organisms Collections And Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The worker pulls its antennae away from the queen such that the antennal scape is perpendicular to the long axis of the head. This assay has been used previously in studies of fertility signal perception in O. brunneus (Smith et al, 2015).…”

Section: Bioassays Of Cuticular Extracts and Fractions Thereof Of O mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fertility signal of O. brunneus queens and workers was identified experimentally as (Z)-9-nonacosene (Smith et al, 2012(Smith et al, , 2013(Smith et al, , 2015. Cuticular profiles of male O. brunneus were dominated by pentacosenes and pentacosadienes, which were present in low amounts on workers (average combined relative abundance of 36% and 0.5%, respectively; Smith et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparative analysis of fertility signals and sex-specific cuticular chemical profiles of Odontomachus trap-jaw ants

Smith

Millar

Suarez

2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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The lipid mixture that coats the insect cuticle contains a number of chemical signals. Mate choice in solitary insects is mediated by sexually dimorphic cuticular chemistry, whereas in eusocial insects, these profiles provide information through which colony members are identified and the fertility status of individuals is assessed. Profiles of queens and workers have been described for a number of eusocial species, but there have been few comparisons of fertility signals among closely related species. Additionally, sexual dimorphism in cuticular lipid profiles has only been reported in two species of ants. This study describes the cuticular chemical profiles of queens, workers and males of three species of Odontomachus trap-jaw ants: O. ruginodis, O. relictus and O. haematodus. These are compared with fertility signals and sexually dimorphic profiles already described from O. brunneus. We report that fertility signals are not conserved within this genus: chemical compounds that distinguish queens from workers vary in number and type among the species. Furthermore, the compounds that were most abundant in cuticular extracts of O. ruginodis queens relative to workers were novel 2,5-dialkyltetrahydrofurans. Bioassays of extracts of O. ruginodis queens indicate that the dialkyltetrahydrofuran and hydrocarbon fractions of the profile are likely to work synergistically in eliciting behavioral responses from workers. In contrast, cuticular lipids that distinguish males from females are more conserved across species, with isomeric and relative abundance variations comprising the main differences among species. Our results provide new insights into how these contact chemical signals may have arisen and evolved within eusocial insects.

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A social insect fertility signal is dependent on chemical context

Cited by 46 publications

References 24 publications

Disentangling the effect of insemination and ovary development on the cuticular hydrocarbon profile in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Disentangling the effect of insemination and ovary development on the cuticular hydrocarbon profile in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Divergence in Cuticular Chemical Signatures between Isolated Populations of an Intraspecific Social Parasite

Comparative analysis of fertility signals and sex-specific cuticular chemical profiles of Odontomachus trap-jaw ants

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