{"database":"biostudies-literature","file_versions":[],"scores":null,"additional":{"omics_type":["Unknown"],"volume":["5(1)"],"submitter":["Dolejsova K"],"pubmed_abstract":["It is long established that queens of social insects, including termites, maintain their reproductive dominance with queen primer pheromones (QPPs). Yet, the QPP chemistry has only been elucidated in a single species of lower termites. By contrast, the most diversified termite family Termitidae (higher termites), comprising over 70% of termite species, has so far resisted all attempts at QPP identification. Here, we show that the queen- and egg-specific sesquiterpene (3R,6E)-nerolidol acts as the QPP in the higher termite Embiratermes neotenicus. This species has a polygynous breeding system, in which the primary queen is replaced by multiple neotenic queens of parthenogenetic origin. We demonstrate that (3R,6E)-nerolidol suppresses the development of these parthenogenetic queens and thus "],"journal":["Communications biology"],"pagination":["1165"],"full_dataset_link":["https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9630296"],"repository":["biostudies-literature"],"pubmed_title":["Identification of a queen primer pheromone in higher termites."],"pmcid":["PMC9630296"],"pubmed_authors":["Horacek N","Roy V","Stafkova J","Kalinova B","Havlickova J","Dolejsova K","Krivanek J","Roy A","Kyjakova P","Hanus R"],"additional_accession":[]},"is_claimable":false,"name":"Identification of a queen primer pheromone in higher termites.","description":"It is long established that queens of social insects, including termites, maintain their reproductive dominance with queen primer pheromones (QPPs). Yet, the QPP chemistry has only been elucidated in a single species of lower termites. By contrast, the most diversified termite family Termitidae (higher termites), comprising over 70% of termite species, has so far resisted all attempts at QPP identification. Here, we show that the queen- and egg-specific sesquiterpene (3R,6E)-nerolidol acts as the QPP in the higher termite Embiratermes neotenicus. This species has a polygynous breeding system, in which the primary queen is replaced by multiple neotenic queens of parthenogenetic origin. We demonstrate that (3R,6E)-nerolidol suppresses the development of these parthenogenetic queens and thus ","dates":{"release":"2022-01-01T00:00:00Z","publication":"2022 Nov","modification":"2025-04-05T11:56:59.691Z","creation":"2025-04-05T11:56:59.691Z"},"accession":"S-EPMC9630296","cross_references":{"pubmed":["36323794"],"doi":["10.1038/s42003-022-04163-5"]}}