Bruelhart, Jeanne and Suess, Anja and Oettler, Jan and Heinze, Jurgen and Schultner, Eva (2024) Sex- and caste-specific developmental responses to juvenile hormone in an ant with maternal caste determination. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY, 227 (12): jeb247396. ISSN 0022-0949, 1477-9145
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Juvenile hormone is considered to be a master regulator of polyphenism in social insects. In the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior , whether a female egg develops into a queen or a worker is determined maternally and caste -specific differentiation occurs in embryos, so that queens and workers can be distinguished in a non-invasive manner from late embryogenesis onwards. This ant also exhibits two male morphs - winged and wingless males. Here, we used topical treatment with juvenile hormone III and its synthetic analogue methoprene, a method that influences caste determination and differentiation in some ant species, to investigate whether hormone manipulation affects the development and growth of male, queen- and worker -destined embryos and larvae. We found no effect of hormone treatment on female caste ratios or body sizes in any of the treated stages, even though individuals reacted to heightened hormone availability with increased expression of kru ppel-homolog 1 , a conserved JH first -response gene. In contrast, hormone treatment resulted in the emergence of significantly larger males, although male morph fate was not affected. These results show that in C. obscurior , maternal caste determination leads to irreversible and highly canalized caste -specific development and growth.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | PALLIDULA NYL HYMENOPTERA; BODY-SIZE; SOLDIER DETERMINATION; METHOPRENE-TOLERANT; QUEEN DEVELOPMENT; WORKER; INSECT; EVOLUTION; METAMORPHOSIS; GENE; Social insects; Caste determination; Developmental plasticity; Polyphenism; Methoprene |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 500 Natural sciences & mathematics 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie > Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Heinze) |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Jul 2025 05:07 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Jul 2025 05:07 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/63493 |
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