Molecular basis for changes in behavioral state in ant social behaviors.

Détails

ID Serval
serval:BIB_6B95E79064B1
Type
Article: article d'un périodique ou d'un magazine.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Titre
Molecular basis for changes in behavioral state in ant social behaviors.
Périodique
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Auteur⸱e⸱s
Lucas C., Sokolowski M.B.
ISSN
1091-6490[electronic], 0027-8424[linking]
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2009
Volume
106
Numéro
15
Pages
6351-6356
Langue
anglais
Résumé
A hallmark of behavior is that animals respond to environmental change by switching from one behavioral state to another. However, information on the molecular underpinnings of these behavioral shifts and how they are mediated by the environment is lacking. The ant Pheidole pallidula with its morphologically and behaviorally distinct major and minor workers is an ideal system to investigate behavioral shifts. The physically larger majors are predisposed to defend the ant nest, whereas the smaller minors are the foragers. Despite this predisposition, majors are able to shift to foraging according to the needs of the colony. We show that the ant foraging (ppfor) gene, which encodes a cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG), mediates this shift. Majors have higher brain PKG activities than minors, and the spatial distribution of the PPFOR protein differs in these workers. Specifically, majors express the PPFOR protein in 5 cells in the anterior face of the ant brain, whereas minors do not. Environmental manipulations show that PKG is lower in the presence of a foraging stimulus and higher when defense is required. Finally, pharmacological activation of PKG increases defense and reduces foraging behavior. Thus, PKG signaling plays a critical role in P. pallidula behavioral shifts.
Mots-clé
Animals, Ants/genetics, Ants/metabolism, Behavior, Animal/physiology, Brain/metabolism, Cyclic GMP-Dependent Protein Kinases/metabolism, Insect Proteins/genetics, Insect Proteins/metabolism, Molecular Sequence Data, Social Behavior, Substrate Specificity
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Oui
Création de la notice
11/02/2009 19:27
Dernière modification de la notice
20/08/2019 14:25
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