Higher brain centers for social tasks in worker ants, <i>Camponotus japonicus</i>

Nishikawa, Masao; Watanabe, Hidehiro; Yokohari, Fumio

doi:10.1002/cne.23001

Cited by 33 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…The sensilla also contain ORNs that responded to several odorants associated with plants and other sources (Figure S2). From previous reports regarding ants and honeybees, it is also evident that they can detect and discriminate both pheromonal and non-pheromonal odors (Brill et al, 2013;Dupuy et al, 2010;Nishikawa et al, 2012;Rö ssler and Zube, 2011;Zube and Rö ssler, 2008). The characterization of responses to several hydrocarbons provided an opportunity to study the differential detection of the low-volatility compounds by a subset of the ant olfactory system.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Insect antennae express several Ors, each ORN usually expressing a single Or along with an obligate Orco coreceptor, which, together, form a functional receptor. These ORNs and their associated molecular receptors have been proposed to play a central role in detecting the queen CHCs that act as signature cues and are involved in regulating complex worker-specific behaviors and physiological effects such as suppressing ovarian function (Kidokoro-Kobayashi et al, 2012;Nakanishi et al, 2010;Nishikawa et al, 2012;Ozaki et al, 2005;Smith et al, 2013). In this study, we characterize the electrophysiological responses of a panel of cuticular hydrocarbons and non-cuticular hydrocarbons on the worker-specific basiconic sensilla of the antenna and find that they are broadspectrum detectors of hydrocarbons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Cuticular Hydrocarbon Pheromones for Social Behavior and Their Coding in the Ant Antenna

Sharma¹,

Enzmann²,

Schmidt³

et al. 2015

Cell Reports

127

121

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The sophisticated organization of eusocial insect societies is largely based on the regulation of complex behaviors by hydrocarbon pheromones present on the cuticle. We used electrophysiology to investigate the detection of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) by female-specific olfactory sensilla basiconica on the antenna of Camponotus floridanus ants through the utilization of one of the largest family of odorant receptors characterized so far in insects. These sensilla, each of which contains multiple olfactory receptor neurons, are differentially sensitive to CHCs and allow them to be classified into three broad groups that collectively detect every hydrocarbon tested, including queen and worker-enriched CHCs. This broad-spectrum sensitivity is conserved in a related species, Camponotus laevigatus, allowing these ants to detect CHCs from both nestmates and non-nestmates. Behavioral assays demonstrate that these ants are excellent at discriminating CHCs detected by the antenna, including enantiomers of a candidate queen pheromone that regulates the reproductive division of labor.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Cuticular Hydrocarbon Pheromones for Social Behavior and Their Coding in the Ant Antenna

Sharma¹,

Enzmann²,

Schmidt³

et al. 2015

Cell Reports

127

121

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The reduction of AL glomeruli is mostly associated with the T3 cluster (Nishino et al 2009), which has been demonstrated to be mainly innervated by medial tract PNs in honeybee workers (Kirschner et al 2006). Comparative studies in other Hymenoptera indicate that the lack of S. basiconica in males is a characteristic trait across both social and solitary Hymenoptera (Ågren 1977, 1978; Wcislo 1995; Ågren and Hallberg 1996; Nakanishi et al 2009, 2010; Mysore et al 2010; Nishikawa et al 2012; Streinzer et al 2013). In the leaf-cutting ant Atta vollenweideri , S. basiconica have been found exclusively to innervate a specific (T6) cluster of AL glomeruli (Kelber et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Olfactory subsystems in the honeybee: sensory supply and sex specificity

et al. 2014

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The antennae of honeybee (Apis mellifera) workers and drones differ in various aspects. One striking difference is the presence of Sensilla basiconica in (female) workers and their absence in (male) drones. We investigate the axonal projection patterns of olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) housed in S. basiconica in honeybee workers by using selective anterograde labeling with fluorescent tracers and confocal-microscopy analysis of axonal projections in antennal lobe glomeruli. Axons of S. basiconica-associated ORNs preferentially projected into a specific glomerular cluster in the antennal lobe, namely the sensory input-tract three (T3) cluster. T3-associated glomeruli had previously been shown to be innervated by uniglomerular projection (output) neurons of the medial antennal lobe tract (mALT). As the number of T3 glomeruli is reduced in drones, we wished to determine whether this was associated with the reduction of glomeruli innervated by medial-tract projection neurons. We retrogradely traced mALT projection neurons in drones and counted the innervated glomeruli. The number of mALT-associated glomeruli was strongly reduced in drones compared with workers. The preferential projections of S. basiconica-associated ORNs in T3 glomeruli together with the reduction of mALT-associated glomeruli support the presence of a female (worker)-specific olfactory subsystem that is partly innervated by ORNs from S. basiconica and is associated with the T3 cluster of glomeruli and mALT projection neurons. We propose that this olfactory subsystem supports parallel olfactory processing related to worker-specific olfactory tasks such as the coding of colony odors, colony pheromones and/or odorants associated with foraging on floral resources.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00441-014-1892-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Behavioral specializations and task transitions can then be linked to brain region size allometries, neuron structure, and synaptic organization [e.g., Gronenberg et al, 1996;Fahrbach et al, 1998;Stieb et al, 2010;Giraldo et al, 2013]. Nevertheless, our current understanding of the neural circuitry involved in processing of social signals and cues is limited [Lihoreau et al, 2012;Nishikawa et al, 2012;d'Ettorre et al, 2017;Carcaud et al, 2018]. For example, the neural substrates underlying complex behaviors underpinning facial recognition in wasps and waggle dance decoding in honey bees [Brockmann and Robinson, 2007] are still largely unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Complexity and Brain Evolution: Comparative Analysis of Modularity and Integration in Ant Brain Organization

2019

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The behavioral demands of living in social groups have been linked to the evolution of brain size and structure, but how social organization shapes investment and connectivity within and among functionally specialized brain regions remains unclear. To understand the influence of sociality on brain evolution in ants, a premier clade of eusocial insects, we statistically analyzed patterns of brain region size covariation as a proxy for brain region connectivity. We investigated brain structure covariance in young and old workers of two formicine ants, the Australasian weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina, a pinnacle of social complexity in insects, and its socially basic sister clade Formica subsericea. As previously identified in other ant species, we predicted that our analysis would recognize in both species an olfaction-related brain module underpinning social information processing in the brain, and a second neuroanatomical cluster involved in nonolfactory sensorimotor processes, thus reflecting conservation of compartmental connectivity. Furthermore, we hypothesized that covariance patterns would reflect divergence in social organization and life histories either within this species pair or compared to other ant species. Contrary to our predictions, our covariance analyses revealed a weakly defined visual, rather than olfactory, sensory processing cluster in both species. This pattern may be linked to the reliance on vision for worker behavioral performance outside of the nest and the correlated expansion of the optic lobes to meet navigational demands in both species. Additionally, we found that colony size and social organization, key measures of social complexity, were only weakly correlated with brain modularity in these formicine ants. Worker age also contributed to variance in brain organization, though in different ways in each species. These findings suggest that brain organization may be shaped by the divergent life histories of the two study species. We compare our findings with patterns of brain organization of other eusocial insects.

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Higher brain centers for social tasks in worker ants, Camponotus japonicus

Cited by 33 publications

References 57 publications

Cuticular Hydrocarbon Pheromones for Social Behavior and Their Coding in the Ant Antenna

Cuticular Hydrocarbon Pheromones for Social Behavior and Their Coding in the Ant Antenna

Olfactory subsystems in the honeybee: sensory supply and sex specificity

Social Complexity and Brain Evolution: Comparative Analysis of Modularity and Integration in Ant Brain Organization

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