Endocrine control of cuticular hydrocarbon profiles during worker-to-soldier differentiation in the termite Reticulitermes flavipes

Darrouzet, Éric; Labédan, Marjorie; Landré, Xavier; Perdereau, Elfie; Christidès, Jean-Philippe; Bagnères, Anne‐Geneviève

doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2013.12.006

Cited by 20 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…The hydrocarbon signatures of workers fed filter paper to which a JH analog had been applied were different than those of control workers. Additional differences were found to exist between pre-soldiers and soldiers; furthermore, as soldiers matured, their signatures changed dramatically (Darrouzet et al 2014). In contrast, JH did not appear to affect cuticular structural constituents in R. flavipes (Sen et al 2013).…”

Section: Communication In Defense and Alarm Behaviormentioning

confidence: 84%

“…For instance, having a high proportion of nymphs in a colony can shift the colony's CHC profile, which can thus serve as a cue for the presence of nymphs and influence the acceptance or rejection of non-nestmates (Uva et al 2004a). The different castes of R. flavipes appear to be well differentiated in terms of their relative proportions of different hydrocarbons (soldiers, younger vs. older larval stages, and neotenics) (Darrouzet et al 2014). In this termite species (and in other European species), caste-specific signatures are stronger than colony-specific signatures (Bagnères personal observation).…”

Section: The Multifaceted Roles Of Cuticular Hydrocarbons In Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Communication and Social Regulation in Termites

Bagnères

Hanus

2015

Social Recognition in Invertebrates

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Communication and social regulation are among the distinguishing features of termites: they are part of all basic aspects of termite biology, from ontogeny and caste differentiation to social behavior and cooperation. As in other highly social taxa, communication in termites predominantly relies on a complex network of chemical signals, which are complemented by vibration-based signals. In contrast to other social taxa, the role of visual cues is negligible. In this chapter, we review the recent literature on the different components that make up termite communication and social regulation systems by tracing termite evolution and examining the role played by different factors, such as sex and caste, and different behaviors, such as those related to defense, nestmate recognition, egg and brood care, foraging, and nest building, among others. The main characteristics of termites are compared to those of other social insects in the introduction. In the first section, we review the most important researches on termite communication and social regulation that are related to social activities in the basal phylogenetic lineages, and in the Termitidae (higher termites), the most advanced and diversified family. The abundant literature on the best studied genera, Reticulitermes, Coptotermes, and Heterotermes, which are considered for the purposes of this chapter to be intermediate termites, is reviewed and discussed separately in the second section. By using this approach, we seek to describe communication and social regulation systems in basal and primitive termites and illustrate how they have evolved to become more complex in intermediate and higher termites.

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Section: Communication In Defense and Alarm Behaviormentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: The Multifaceted Roles Of Cuticular Hydrocarbons In Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Communication and Social Regulation in Termites

Bagnères

Hanus

2015

Social Recognition in Invertebrates

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“…The JHA fenoxycarb was used to induce workers to become pre‐soldiers. The induction method was used as described (Hrdý et al ., ); the workers were fed wood treated with an acetone solution of fenoxycarb at a concentration of 50 μg/mL (Darrouzet et al ., ). An acetone solution without fenoxycarb was used for the control.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Metatranscriptome of the protistan community in Reticulitermes flaviceps

et al. 2016

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The hindgut of lower termites harbors various symbiotic protists, which perform varied functions in lignocellulose decomposition. As termites are social insects, the species and numbers of these flagellated protists in the termite gut vary among the different castes. Juvenile hormones (JHs) can regulate caste differentiation in termites. In this study, we used the juvenile hormone analog fenoxycarb to induce termite workers (Reticulitermes flaviceps) to differentiate into pre-soldiers. A metatranscriptomic investigation of the protistan community was then performed by 454 pyrosequencing. From a thorough analysis based on 597 312 generated reads, we found that the starch and sucrose metabolism pathway was the most abundant pathway across the metatranscriptome. The current study demonstrates that the metatranscriptome of the protistan community in termites contains an abundance of lignocellulase, which plays a vital role in termite nutrition.

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“…Comparatively fewer studies have examined the plasticity of CHCs in termites and the role they play in communication (reviewed in Bagnères & Hanus, 2015). CHC profiles may, in a given species, differ quantitatively and/or qualitatively among populations, colonies, castes, and seasons (Brent, Penick, Trobaugh, Moore, & Liebig, 2016; Darrouzet et al, 2014; Haverty, Grace, Nelson, & Yamamoto, 1996; Shelton & Grace, 1996; Shelton & Grace 1997). Several studies found a correlation between agonistic behaviors and differing CHC profiles by introducing intraspecific and interspecific groups with different chemical profiles (Bagnères, Killian, Clément, & Lange, 1991; Delphia, Copren, & Haverty, 2003; Haverty, Copren, Getty, & Lewis, 1999; Haverty, Page, Thorne, & Escoubas, 1991; Kaib et al., 2004; Takahashi & Gassa, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colony‐age‐dependent variation in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles in subterranean termite colonies

Gordon

Šobotník²,

Chouvenc

2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) have, in insects, important physiological and ecological functions, such as protection against desiccation and as semiochemicals in social taxa, including termites. CHCs are, in termites, known to vary qualitatively and/or quantitatively among species, populations, castes, or seasons. Changes to hydrocarbon profile composition have been linked to varying degrees of aggression between termite colonies, although the variability of results among studies suggests that additional factors might have been involved. One source of such variability may be colony age, as termite colony demographics significantly change over time, with different caste and instar compositions throughout the life of the colony. We here hypothesize that the intracolonial chemical profile heterogeneity would be high in incipient termite colonies but would homogenize over time as a colony ages and accumulates older workers in improved homeostatic conditions. We studied caste‐specific patterns of CHC profiles in Coptotermes gestroi colonies of four different age classes (6, 18, 30, and 42 months). The CHC profiles were variable among castes in the youngest colonies, but progressively converged toward a colony‐wide homogenized chemical profile. Young colonies had a less‐defined CHC identity, which implies a potentially high acceptance threshold for non‐nestmates conspecifics in young colonies. Our results also suggest that there was no selective pressure for an early‐defined colony CHC profile to evolve in termites, potentially allowing an incipient colony to merge nonagonistically with another conspecific incipient colony, with both colonies indirectly and passively avoiding mutual destruction as a result.

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Endocrine control of cuticular hydrocarbon profiles during worker-to-soldier differentiation in the termite Reticulitermes flavipes

Cited by 20 publications

References 68 publications

Communication and Social Regulation in Termites

Communication and Social Regulation in Termites

Metatranscriptome of the protistan community in Reticulitermes flaviceps

Colony‐age‐dependent variation in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles in subterranean termite colonies

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