Title
Reversible plasticity in brain size, behaviour and physiology characterizes caste transitions in a socially flexible ant ()
Department
Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-14-2021
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity allows organisms to respond to changing environments throughout their lifetime, but these changes are rarely reversible. Exceptions occur in relatively long-lived vertebrate species that exhibit seasonal plasticity in brain size, although similar changes have not been identified in short-lived species, such as insects. Here, we investigate brain plasticity in reproductive workers of the ant . Unlike most ant species, workers of are capable of sexual reproduction, and they compete in a dominance tournament to establish a group of reproductive workers, termed 'gamergates'. We demonstrated that, compared to foragers, gamergates exhibited a 19% reduction in brain volume in addition to significant differences in behaviour, ovarian status, venom production, cuticular hydrocarbon profile, and expression profiles of related genes. In experimentally manipulated gamergates, 6-8 weeks after being reverted back to non-reproductive status their phenotypes shifted to the forager phenotype across all traits we measured, including brain volume, a trait in which changes were previously shown to be irreversible in honeybees and . Brain plasticity in is therefore more similar to that found in some long-lived vertebrates that display reversible changes in brain volume throughout their lifetimes.
Journal Title
Proceedings. Biological sciences
Volume
288
Issue
1948
First Page
20210141
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1098/rspb.2021.0141