Pheromonal Regulation of the Reproductive Division of Labor in Social Insects

Abstract

The reproductive altruism in social insects is an evolutionary enigma that has been puzzling scientists starting from Darwin. Unraveling how reproductive skew emerges and maintains is crucial to understand the reproductive altruism involved in the consequent division of labor. The regulation of adult worker reproduction involves conspecific inhibitory signals, which are thought to be chemical signals by numerous studies. Despite the primary identification of few chemical ligands, the action modes of primer pheromones that regulate reproduction and their molecular causes and effects remain challenging. Here, these questions were elucidated by comprehensively reviewing recent advances. The coordination with other modalities of queen pheromones (QPs) and its context-dependent manner to suppress worker reproduction were discussed under the vast variation and plasticity of reproduction during colony development and across taxa. In addition to the effect of QPs, special attention was paid to recent studies revealing the regulatory effect of brood pheromones. Considering the correlation between pheromone and hormone, this study focused on the production and perception of pheromones under the endocrine control and highlighted the pivotal roles of nutrition-related pathways. The novel chemicals and gene pathways discovered by recent works provide new insights into the understanding of social regulation of reproductive division of labor in insects.

Dynamic altruistic cooperation within breast tumors

“…G Examples of altruistic social systems and how the social dynamics is regulated. Above: In honeybee ( Apis Mellifera ), the queen bee secretes primer pheromone such as CHCs and other glandular compounds that suppress worker ovarian development, thus maintaining the workers as reproductive altruists [ 64 ]. In Dictyostelium amoeba, the pre-spores secrete differentiation-inducing factor-1 (DIF-1) to prevent the altruistic pre-stalk cells from developing into spores, thus maintaining a 80:20 spore-to-stalk cell ratio in the fruiting body that is formed eventually [ 65 ].…”

Let's talk about sex: Mechanisms of neural sexual differentiation in Bilateria

“…These and other molecular mechanisms underlie the different morphology and behavior of each social caste and determine where an individual pauses on its developmental trajectory (J. Ge et al, 2020). Further examination of the systems that direct caste determination will deepen understanding of the relationship between development and behavior for these species.…”

“…(3) Finally, the distinction among subtypes of non‐reproductive XX workers may be mediated by additional BTB‐POZ transcription factors (e.g., tramtrack ) whose induction is also regulated by the balance of juvenile hormone and insulin signaling pathways (Glastad et al, 2021). These and other molecular mechanisms underlie the different morphology and behavior of each social caste and determine where an individual pauses on its developmental trajectory (J. Ge et al, 2020). Further examination of the systems that direct caste determination will deepen understanding of the relationship between development and behavior for these species.…”

Semioquímicos asociados al seguimiento de rastros de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): una revisión sistemática

“…Las hormigas son casi ciegas, pero tienen un sistema olfativo muy agudo en las antenas, las cuales están equipadas con quimiorreceptores especializados para captar moléculas de olor que se transportan por el aire, por lo que la percepción e interpretación de los olores, en los cerebros de las hormigas, es de vital importancia para su supervivencia (D'Ettorre et al, 2017;Kleeberg et al, 2017). Las feromonas coordinan la defensa de los nidos (sistema de alarmas), el cuidado de la reina y las crías, inmigración de colonias, reproducción, la búsqueda del alimento y reclutamiento (Wyatt, 2017;Du et al, 2019;Vander Meer & Alonso, 2019;Ge et al, 2020). Las feromonas de rastro es uno de los principales mecanismos de guía hacia las fuentes de alimentación, cuando un recolector encuentra alimento, deposita un rastro de feromonas mientras regresa al nido, incitando al reclutamiento de sus compañeras hacia el mismo recurso.…”