Infochemicals Research Team, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Flemingovo no. 2, Prague, Czech Republic.
Proc Biol Sci. 2010 Apr 7;277(1684):995-1002. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1857. Epub 2009 Nov 25.
In 1959, P. Karlson and M. Lüscher introduced the term 'pheromone', broadly used nowadays for various chemicals involved in intraspecific communication. To demonstrate the term, they depicted the situation in termite societies, where king and queen inhibit the reproduction of nest-mates by an unknown chemical substance. Paradoxically, half a century later, neither the source nor the chemical identity of this 'royal' pheromone is known. In this study, we report for the first time the secretion of polar compounds of proteinaceous origin by functional reproductives in three termite species, Prorhinotermes simplex, Reticulitermes santonensis and Kalotermes flavicollis. Aqueous washes of functional reproductives contained sex-specific proteinaceous compounds, virtually absent in non-reproducing stages. Moreover, the presence of these compounds was clearly correlated with the age of reproductives and their reproductive status. We discuss the putative function of these substances in termite caste recognition and regulation.
1959 年，P. Karlson 和 M. Lüscher 引入了“信息素”一词，该术语现今被广泛用于描述各种参与种内交流的化学物质。为了说明这个术语，他们描述了白蚁社会中的情况，在白蚁社会中，蚁王和蚁后通过一种未知的化学物质抑制巢内同伴的繁殖。具有讽刺意味的是，半个世纪后，这种“皇家”信息素的来源和化学性质仍不得而知。在这项研究中，我们首次报道了功能性繁殖蚁在三种白蚁物种，即简单鼻白蚁、红胸散白蚁和黄胸散白蚁中分泌的极性蛋白源化合物。功能性繁殖蚁的水提物中含有性别特异性的蛋白源化合物，而在非繁殖阶段几乎不存在这些化合物。此外，这些化合物的存在与繁殖蚁的年龄和生殖状态明显相关。我们讨论了这些物质在白蚁种姓识别和调节中的可能作用。
