Soldier determination mechanisms by juvenile hormone in termite

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K21085
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment; Insect science
• Research Institution: Nihon University
• Principal Investigator: TOGA Kouhei 日本大学, 文理学部, 助手 (10726798)
• Research Collaborator: MINAKUCHI Chieka
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 幼若ホルモン / シロアリ / 形態形成

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Morphologies of termite soldiers are specialized for colony defense. Developmental determination for soldiers is regulated by environmental factors during post-embryonic development. Juvenile hormone (JH) mediate this developmental processes. This study showed that Msh gene, which is expressed in wing disc of Drosophila melanogaster, plays a central role in soldier-specific morphological changes. Furthermore, this study showed that some wing developmental genes such as vestigial gene increased during presoldier development. These results suggest that the genes involved in wing formation plays a central role in termite soldier development.

Free Research Field

進化発生学，生態発生学，社会生物学