| Budget Amount *help |
¥17,420,000 (Direct Cost: ¥13,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥4,020,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥3,510,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥810,000)
Fiscal Year 2019: ¥6,760,000 (Direct Cost: ¥5,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,560,000)
Fiscal Year 2018: ¥7,150,000 (Direct Cost: ¥5,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,650,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
In order to understand the maintenance mechanisms of mutualistic associations through selfish behavioral manipulation, we investigated the mechanism of behavioral manipulation and the effect of mutualism on an ant fitness using a mutualistic system between a lycaenid butterfly and an ant. We found that the nectar of the lycaenid butterfly contains some chemicals that manipulate the behavior of ants, the nectar decreases the expression of genes involved in the dopamine pathway and signal transduction in the brain of ants. We also found that the benefits of mutualism to the ants vary depending on the nutritional status of the ants, but the ants maintain the associations with the lycaenid butterfly regardless of short-term fitness losses.
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