| Title: | Identification of a queen primer pheromone in higher termites |
| Author(s): | Dolejsova K; Krivanek J; Stafkova J; Horacek N; Havlickova J; Roy V; Kalinova B; Roy A; Kyjakova P; Hanus R; |
| Address: | "Chemistry of Social Insects, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic. Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. Universite Paris Est Creteil, Sorbonne Universite, Universite Paris Cite, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, iEES Paris, Creteil, France. Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic. Chemistry of Social Insects, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic. robert@uochb.cas.cz" |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s42003-022-04163-5 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2399-3642 (Electronic) 2399-3642 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "It is long established that queens of social insects, including termites, maintain their reproductive dominance with queen primer pheromones (QPPs). Yet, the QPP chemistry has only been elucidated in a single species of lower termites. By contrast, the most diversified termite family Termitidae (higher termites), comprising over 70% of termite species, has so far resisted all attempts at QPP identification. Here, we show that the queen- and egg-specific sesquiterpene (3R,6E)-nerolidol acts as the QPP in the higher termite Embiratermes neotenicus. This species has a polygynous breeding system, in which the primary queen is replaced by multiple neotenic queens of parthenogenetic origin. We demonstrate that (3R,6E)-nerolidol suppresses the development of these parthenogenetic queens and thus mimics the presence of mature queen(s). It acts as an airborne signal and may be used to optimize the number of queens, thus being the key regulatory element in the special breeding system of E. neotenicus" |
| Keywords: | Animals *Isoptera Pheromones *Sesquiterpenes Parthenogenesis; |
| Notes: | "MedlineDolejsova, Klara Krivanek, Jan Stafkova, Jitka Horacek, Natan Havlickova, Jana Roy, Virginie Kalinova, Blanka Roy, Amit Kyjakova, Pavlina Hanus, Robert eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2022/11/04 Commun Biol. 2022 Nov 2; 5(1):1165. doi: 10.1038/s42003-022-04163-5" |
