Oral transfer of chemical cues, growth proteins and hormones in social insects.


Change log
Authors
LeBoeuf, Adria C 
Waridel, Patrice 
Brent, Colin S 
Gonçalves, Andre N 
Menin, Laure 
Abstract

Social insects frequently engage in oral fluid exchange - trophallaxis - between adults, and between adults and larvae. Although trophallaxis is widely considered a food-sharing mechanism, we hypothesized that endogenous components of this fluid might underlie a novel means of chemical communication between colony members. Through protein and small-molecule mass spectrometry and RNA sequencing, we found that trophallactic fluid in the ant Camponotus floridanus contains a set of specific digestion- and non-digestion related proteins, as well as hydrocarbons, microRNAs, and a key developmental regulator, juvenile hormone. When C. floridanus workers' food was supplemented with this hormone, the larvae they reared via trophallaxis were twice as likely to complete metamorphosis and became larger workers. Comparison of trophallactic fluid proteins across social insect species revealed that many are regulators of growth, development and behavioral maturation. These results suggest that trophallaxis plays previously unsuspected roles in communication and enables communal control of colony phenotypes.

Description
Keywords
Apis mellifera, Camponotus fellah, Camponotus floridanus, Solenopsis invicta, collective behavior, evolutionary biology, genomics, social evolution, Animals, Ants, Behavior, Animal, Body Fluids, Hormones, Insect Proteins, Juvenile Hormones, Mass Spectrometry, Sequence Analysis, RNA, Social Behavior
Journal Title
Elife
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
2050-084X
2050-084X
Volume Title
5
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (104640/Z/14/Z)