The role of other individuals on behavioral plasticity in termites.

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K15881
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 45040:Ecology and environment-related
• Research Institution: Forest Research and Management Organization (2022-2023); Kwansei Gakuin University (2020-2021)
• Principal Investigator: Yaguchi Hajime 国立研究開発法人森林研究・整備機構, 森林総合研究所, 森林総研特別研究員 (10803380)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: シロアリ / 表現型可塑性 / 労働分業 / 防衛行動 / 脳内遺伝子 / RNA-seq

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Phenotypic plasticity is a common ability among living organisms and an effective strategy in the changing environment. Therefore, plasticity at the individual level has been extensively studied in a variety of organisms. In this study, I aimed to determine the influences of other individuals on individual-level behavioral plasticity in termites. Consequently, I quantified the frequencies of plastic defensive behavior of termites in response to other individuals and captured the changes in gene expression within the brain.

Free Research Field

社会生物学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

社会生物学の分野において，アリやミツバチにおける行動レベルの観察が精力的に行われてきた．一方で，アリやミツバチに比べると，シロアリにおける研究はやや立ち遅れていた．本成果は，ネバダオオシロアリを対象に，個体レベルの表現型可塑性に与える社会（他個体の存在）の役割について，分子生物学の観点から強化できた．特に，脳を対象とした遺伝子発現はシロアリでは初めてであり，他の昆虫種と比較する上での基礎的なデータを提供できた．