Identification of a queen pheromone mediating the rearing of adult sexuals in the pharaoh ant Monomorium pharaonis.

ABSTRACT: The division of labour between reproductive queens and mostly sterile workers is among the defining characteristics of social insects. Queen-produced chemical signals advertising her presence and fertility status, i.e. queen pheromones, are normally used to assert the queen's reproductive dominance in the colony. Most queen pheromones identified to date are chemicals that stop the daughter workers from reproducing. Nevertheless, it has long been suggested that queen pheromones could also regulate reproduction in different ways. In some multiple-queen ants with obligately sterile workers, for example-such as fire ants and pharaoh ants-queen pheromones are thought to regulate reproduction by inhibiting the rearing of new sexuals. Here, we identify the first such queen pheromone in the pharao

SUBMITTER: Oliveira RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7480160 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature