Fiche du document
29 novembre 2016
- doi: 10.7554/eLife.20375
- issn: 2050-084X
Ce document est lié à :
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.7554/eLife.20375
Ce document est lié à :
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/27894417
Ce document est lié à :
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/2050-084X
Ce document est lié à :
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/urn/urn:nbn:ch:serval-BIB_E07F2B7D56EE1
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess , Copying allowed only for non-profit organizations , https://serval.unil.ch/disclaimer
Sujets proches
ProteidsCiter ce document
A.C. LeBoeuf et al., « Oral transfer of chemical cues, growth proteins and hormones in social insects. », Serveur académique Lausannois, ID : 10.7554/eLife.20375
Métriques
Partage / Export
Résumé
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.