| Title: | Hormonal modulation of reproduction and fertility signaling in polistine wasps |
| Author(s): | Oi CA; da Silva RC; Stevens I; Ferreira HM; Nascimento FS; Wenseleers T; |
| Address: | "Laboratory of Socioecology and Social Evolution, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciencias e Letras de Ribeirao Preto, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo-USP, Ribeirao Preto, SP 14040-901, Brazil" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1674-5507 (Print) 2396-9814 (Electronic) 1674-5507 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "In social insects, it has been suggested that reproduction and the production of particular fertility-linked cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC) may be under shared juvenile hormone (JH) control, and this could have been key in predisposing such cues to later evolve into full-fledged queen pheromone signals. However, to date, only few studies have experimentally tested this 'hormonal pleiotropy' hypothesis. Here, we formally test this hypothesis using data from four species of Polistine wasps, Polistes dominula, Polistes satan, Mischocyttarus metathoracicus, and Mischocyttarus cassununga, and experimental treatments with JH using the JH analogue methoprene and the anti-JH precocene. In line with reproduction being under JH control, our results show that across these four species, precocene significantly decreased ovary development when compared with both the acetone solvent-only control and the methoprene treatment. Consistent with the hormonal pleiotropy hypothesis, these effects on reproduction were further matched by subtle shifts in the CHC profiles, with univariate analyses showing that in P. dominula and P. satan the abundance of particular linear alkanes and mono-methylated alkanes were affected by ovary development and our hormonal treatments. The results indicate that in primitively eusocial wasps, and particularly in Polistes, reproduction and the production of some CHC cues are under joint JH control. We suggest that pleiotropic links between reproduction and the production of such hydrocarbon cues have been key enablers for the origin of true fertility and queen signals in more derived, advanced eusocial insects" |
| Keywords: | Polistinae wasps cuticular hydrocarbons fertility cues juvenile hormone queen pheromones; |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINEOi, Cintia Akemi da Silva, Rafael Carvalho Stevens, Ian Ferreira, Helena Mendes Nascimento, Fabio Santos Wenseleers, Tom eng England 2021/10/08 Curr Zool. 2021 Mar 15; 67(5):519-530. doi: 10.1093/cz/zoab026. eCollection 2021 Oct" |
