| Title |
Queen regulates biogenic amine level and nestmate recognition in workers of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
The Science of Nature, August 2008
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00114-008-0432-6 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Robert K. Vander Meer, Catherine A. Preston, Abraham Hefetz |
| Abstract |
Nestmate recognition is a critical element in social insect organization, providing a means to maintain territoriality and close the colony to parasites and predators. Ants detect the colony chemical label via their antennae and respond to the label mismatch of an intruder with aggressive behavior. In the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, worker ability to recognize conspecific nonnestmates decreases if the colony queen is removed, such that they do not recognize conspecific nonnestmates as different. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the presence of the colony queen influences the concentration of octopamine, a neuromodulator, in worker ants, which in turn has an effect on nestmate recognition acuity in workers. We demonstrate that queenless workers exhibit reduced brain octopamine levels and reduced discriminatory acuteness; however, feeding queenless workers octopamine restored both. Dopamine levels are influenced by honeybee queen pheromones; however, levels of this biogenic amine were unchanged in our experiments. This is the first demonstration of a link between the presence of the colony queen, a worker biogenic amine, and conspecific nestmate recognition, a powerful expression of colony cohesion and territoriality. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 91 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 4 | 4% |
| Argentina | 1 | 1% |
| Unknown | 86 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 27 | 30% |
| Researcher | 20 | 22% |
| Student > Master | 6 | 7% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 6 | 7% |
| Student > Bachelor | 5 | 5% |
| Other | 15 | 16% |
| Unknown | 12 | 13% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 64 | 70% |
| Environmental Science | 3 | 3% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 3 | 3% |
| Neuroscience | 3 | 3% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 1 | 1% |
| Other | 1 | 1% |
| Unknown | 16 | 18% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 November 2023.
All research outputs
#7,845,540
of 23,794,258 outputs
Outputs from The Science of Nature
#817
of 2,195 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#30,322
of 83,912 outputs
Outputs of similar age from The Science of Nature
#7
of 14 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,794,258 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 44th percentile – i.e., 44% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
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