Anstey Michael L, Rogers Stephen M, Ott Swidbert R, Burrows Malcolm, Simpson Stephen J
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK.
Science. 2009 Jan 30;323(5914):627-30. doi: 10.1126/science.1165939.
Desert locusts, Schistocerca gregaria, show extreme phenotypic plasticity, transforming between a little-seen solitarious phase and the notorious swarming gregarious phase depending on population density. An essential tipping point in the process of swarm formation is the initial switch from strong mutual aversion in solitarious locusts to coherent group formation and greater activity in gregarious locusts. We show here that serotonin, an evolutionarily conserved mediator of neuronal plasticity, is responsible for this behavioral transformation, being both necessary if behavioral gregarization is to occur and sufficient to induce it. Our data demonstrate a neurochemical mechanism linking interactions between individuals to large-scale changes in population structure and the onset of mass migration.
沙漠蝗虫，即飞蝗，表现出极端的表型可塑性，根据种群密度在鲜少出现的独居阶段和臭名昭著的群居阶段之间转变。群体形成过程中的一个关键转折点是从独居蝗虫强烈的相互厌恶到群居蝗虫形成连贯群体并表现出更高活跃度的初始转变。我们在此表明，血清素作为一种在进化上保守的神经元可塑性介质，负责这种行为转变，它对于群居化行为的发生既是必要的，也是足以诱导其发生的。我们的数据证明了一种神经化学机制，该机制将个体间的相互作用与种群结构的大规模变化以及大规模迁徙的开始联系起来。
