Nourishment level affects caste-related gene expression in Polistes wasps.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Social insects exhibit striking phenotypic plasticity in the form of distinct reproductive (queen) and non-reproductive (worker) castes, which are typically driven by differences in the environment during early development. Nutritional environment and nourishment during development has been shown to be broadly associated with caste determination across social insect taxa such as bees, wasps, and termites. In primitively social insects such as Polistes paper wasps, caste remains flexible throughout adulthood, but there is evidence that nourishment inequalities can bias caste development with workers receiving limited nourishment compared to queens. Dominance and vibrational signaling are behaviors that have also been linked to caste differences in paper wasps, suggesting

SUBMITTER: Berens AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4381360 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature