| Budget Amount *help |
¥5,460,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,260,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Termite soldier is a peculiar caste among social insects in terms of their specific defensive roles. To understand the regulatory mechanisms of soldier differentiation under natural condition, this study focused on the soldier differentiation in incipient colonies, in which only one soldier develops via a presoldier stage. In the incipient colonies of Zootermopsis nevadensis, observation of each larval development revealed a particular individual, which differentiated into a presoldier, before the molt. Molecular developmental analyses of this individual showed that there was a significantly highly expressed gene and an important factor. Further functional analyses suggested that they were involved in the specific behavior observed in this individual. High juvenile hormone (JH) titer is required for the soldier differentiation, and this is the first case to clarify the regulatory mechanisms that affect JH titer changes during soldier differentiation under natural condition.
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