Back to Search
Start Over
Male neotenic reproductives accelerate additional differentiation of female reproductives by lowering JH titer in termites
Male neotenic reproductives accelerate additional differentiation of female reproductives by lowering JH titer in termites
- Source :
- Scientific Reports, Scientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2020)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Nature Publishing Group UK, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Eusocial insects exhibit reproductive division of labor, in which only a fraction of colony members differentiate into reproductives. In termites, reproductives of both sexes are present in a colony and constantly engaged in reproduction. It has been suggested that the sex ratio of reproductives is maintained by social interactions. The presence of reproductives is known to inhibit the additional differentiation of same-sex reproductives, while it promotes the differentiation of opposite-sex reproductives. In this study, using the damp-wood termite Hodotermopsis sjostedti, physiological effects of male/female reproductives on the differentiation of supplementary reproductives (neotenics) were examined. The results showed that the only male-neotenic condition, i.e., the presence of male neotenics in the absence of female neotenics, accelerated the neotenic differentiation from female workers (i.e., pseudergates). Under this condition, the rise of juvenile hormone (JH) titer was repressed in females, and the application of a JH analog inhibited the female neotenic differentiation, indicating that the low JH titer leads to rapid differentiation. Thus, the only male-neotenic condition that actively promotes reproductive differentiation by manipulating physiological condition of females is suggested to be a mechanism underlying sexual asymmetry in reproductive function, which may lead the female-biased sex allocation of reproductives.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine
Male
Sex Differentiation
Evolution
Science
media_common.quotation_subject
Zoology
Isoptera
Biology
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Article
03 medical and health sciences
Animal physiology
Animals
Neoteny
Sex allocation
media_common
Social evolution
Multidisciplinary
Reproductive function
Physiological condition
Reproduction
Cell Differentiation
Eusociality
Juvenile Hormones
030104 developmental biology
Juvenile hormone
Medicine
Female
Sex
Entomology
Sex ratio
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20452322
- Volume :
- 10
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scientific Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....0597b4cfa74d97aead73933a576c5f36