Evidence for contrasting roles for prolactin in eusocial naked mole-rats, Heterocephalus glaber and Damaraland mole-rats, Fukomys damarensis.

ABSTRACT: Elevated prolactin (PRL) has been associated with the expression of social and cooperative behaviours in a number of vertebrate species, as well as suppression of reproduction. As social mole-rats exhibit both of these traits, PRL is a prime candidate in mediating their social phenotype. While naked and Damaraland mole-rats (NMRs and DMRs) have evolved eusociality independently within their family, both species exhibit an extreme skew in lifetime reproductive success, with breeding restricted to a single female and one or two males. Non-breeding NMRs of both sexes are physiologically inhibited from reproducing, while in DMRs only the non-breeding females are physiologically suppressed. Newly emerging work has implicated the dopamine system and PRL as a component in socially induced reprodu

SUBMITTER: Bennett NC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6012705 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature