Dosmann Andy, Bahet Nassim, Gordon Deborah M
Department of Natural Sciences, Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute , San Francisco, CA , United States.
Stanford Online High School, Stanford, CA, United States; Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States.
PeerJ. 2016 Jan 25;4:e1566. doi: 10.7717/peerj.1566. eCollection 2016.
Social insects use odors as cues for a variety of behavioral responses, including nestmate recognition. Past research on nestmate recognition indicates cuticular hydrocarbons are important nestmate discriminators for social insects, but other factors are likely to contribute to colony-specific odors. Here we experimentally tested whether external microbes contribute to nestmate recognition in red harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus). We changed the external microbiome of ants through topical application of either antibiotics or microbial cultures. We then observed behavior of nestmates when treated ants were returned to the nest. Ants whose external microbiome was augmented with microbial cultures were much more likely to be rejected than controls, but ants treated with antibiotics were not. This result is consistent with the possibility that external microbes are used for nestmate recognition.
群居昆虫利用气味作为各种行为反应的线索，包括识别同巢伙伴。过去关于同巢伙伴识别的研究表明，表皮碳氢化合物是群居昆虫识别同巢伙伴的重要因素，但其他因素可能也有助于形成特定蚁群的气味。在此，我们通过实验测试了外部微生物是否有助于红收获蚁（Pogonomyrmex barbatus）识别同巢伙伴。我们通过局部应用抗生素或微生物培养物来改变蚂蚁的外部微生物群落。然后，我们观察了将经过处理的蚂蚁放回蚁巢时同巢伙伴的行为。外部微生物群落因微生物培养物而增加的蚂蚁比对照组更有可能被排斥，但用抗生素处理的蚂蚁则没有。这一结果与外部微生物被用于识别同巢伙伴的可能性相一致。
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