| Title: | Antenna Cleaning Is Essential for Precise Behavioral Response to Alarm Pheromone and Nestmate-Non-Nestmate Discrimination in Japanese Carpenter Ants (Camponotus japonicus) |
| Author(s): | Mizutani H; Tagai K; Habe S; Takaku Y; Uebi T; Kimura T; Hariyama T; Ozaki M; |
| Address: | "Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Kobe University, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Japan. School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0092, Japan. Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto 616-8354, Japan. Preeminent Medical Photonics Education and Research Center, Institute for NanoSuit Research & NanoSuit Inc., Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Higashi-ku, Hamamatsu 431-3192, Japan. KYOUSEI Science Center for Life and Nature, Nara Women's University, Nara 630-8263, Japan. Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Japan. Morphogenetic Signaling Team, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0047, Japan" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2075-4450 (Print) 2075-4450 (Electronic) 2075-4450 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Self-grooming of the antennae is frequently observed in ants. This antennal maintenance behavior is presumed to be essential for effective chemical communication but, to our knowledge, this has not yet been well studied. When we removed the antenna-cleaning apparatuses of the Japanese carpenter ant (C. japonicus) to limit the self-grooming of the antennae, the worker ants demonstrated the self-grooming gesture as usual, but the antennal surface could not be sufficiently cleaned. By using scanning electron microscopy with NanoSuit, we observed the ants' antennae for up to 48 h and found that the antennal surfaces gradually became covered with self-secreted surface material. Concurrently, the self-grooming-limited workers gradually lost their behavioral responsiveness to undecane-the alarm pheromone. Indeed, their locomotive response to the alarm pheromone diminished for up to 24 h after the antenna cleaner removal operation. In addition, the self-grooming-limited workers exhibited less frequent aggressive behavior toward non-nestmate workers, and 36 h after the operation, approximately half of the encountered non-nestmate workers were accepted as nestmates. These results suggest that the antennal sensing system is affected by excess surface material; hence, their proper function is prevented until they are cleaned" |
| Keywords: | NanoSuit alarm response ant antennae cleaning apparatus glooming nestmate recognition; |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINEMizutani, Hitomi Tagai, Kazuhiro Habe, Shunya Takaku, Yasuharu Uebi, Tatsuya Kimura, Toshifumi Hariyama, Takahiko Ozaki, Mamiko eng 16K00402/Japan Society for the Promotion of Science/ Switzerland 2021/09/27 Insects. 2021 Aug 28; 12(9):773. doi: 10.3390/insects12090773" |
