scholarly journals Biomarkers in a socially exchanged fluid reflect colony maturity, behavior and distributed metabolism

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja M Hakala ◽  
Marie-Pierre Meurville ◽  
Michael Stumpe ◽  
Adria C LeBoeuf
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Social Insect ◽  
Seminal Fluid ◽  
Circulatory System ◽  
Task Specialization ◽  
Camponotus Floridanus ◽  
Carpenter Ant ◽  
Insect Colonies ◽  
Multicellular Organisms

In cooperative systems exhibiting division of labor, such as microbial communities, multicellular organisms, and social insect colonies, individual units share costs and benefits through both task specialization and exchanged materials. Socially exchanged fluids, like seminal fluid and milk, allow individuals to molecularly influence conspecifics. Many social insects have a social circulatory system, where food and endogenously produced molecules are transferred mouth-to-mouth (stomodeal trophallaxis), connecting all the individuals in the society. To understand how these endogenous molecules relate to colony life, we used quantitative proteomics to investigate the trophallactic fluid within colonies of the carpenter ant Camponotus floridanus. We show that different stages of the colony life cycle circulate different types of proteins: young colonies prioritize direct carbohydrate processing; mature colonies prioritize accumulation and transmission of stored resources. Further, colonies circulate proteins implicated in oxidative stress, ageing, and social insect caste determination, potentially acting as superorganismal hormones. Brood-caring individuals that are also closer to the queen in the social network (nurses) showed higher abundance of oxidative stress-related proteins. Thus, trophallaxis behavior could provide a mechanism for distributed metabolism in social insect societies. The ability to thoroughly analyze the materials exchanged between cooperative units makes social insect colonies useful models to understand the evolution and consequences of metabolic division of labor at other scales.

Mercury Exposure and Endothelial Dysfunction

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 300-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swati Omanwar ◽  
M. Fahim
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Nitric Oxide ◽  
Endothelial Dysfunction ◽  
Vascular Endothelium ◽  
Circulatory System ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Mercury Exposure ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Oxidative Stress

Vascular endothelium plays a vital role in the organization and function of the blood vessel and maintains homeostasis of the circulatory system and normal arterial function. Functional disruption of the endothelium is recognized as the beginning event that triggers the development of consequent cardiovascular disease (CVD) including atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. There is a growing data associating mercury exposure with endothelial dysfunction and higher risk of CVD. This review explores and evaluates the impact of mercury exposure on CVD and endothelial function, highlighting the interplay of nitric oxide and oxidative stress.

Scaling of work and energy use in social insect colonies

2016 ◽  
Vol 70 (7) ◽  
pp. 1047-1061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer H. Fewell ◽  
Jon F. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Social Insect ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Insect Colonies ◽  
Work And Energy

Context-specific regulation of lysosomal lipolysis through network-level diverting of transcription factor interactions

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (41) ◽  
pp. e2104832118
Author(s):  
Vinod K. Mony ◽  
Anna Drangowska-Way ◽  
Reka Albert ◽  
Emma Harrison ◽  
Abbas Ghaddar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Target Gene ◽  
Specific Nature ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Functional Interactions ◽  
Genetic Epistasis ◽  
Specific Regulation ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Factor Interactions ◽  
Multicellular Organisms

Plasticity in multicellular organisms involves signaling pathways converting contexts—either natural environmental challenges or laboratory perturbations—into context-specific changes in gene expression. Congruently, the interactions between the signaling molecules and transcription factors (TF) regulating these responses are also context specific. However, when a target gene responds across contexts, the upstream TF identified in one context is often inferred to regulate it across contexts. Reconciling these stable TF–target gene pair inferences with the context-specific nature of homeostatic responses is therefore needed. The induction of the Caenorhabditis elegans genes lipl-3 and lipl-4 is observed in many genetic contexts and is essential to survival during fasting. We find DAF-16/FOXO mediating lipl-4 induction in all contexts tested; hence, lipl-4 regulation seems context independent and compatible with across-context inferences. In contrast, DAF-16–mediated regulation of lipl-3 is context specific. DAF-16 reduces the induction of lipl-3 during fasting, yet it promotes it during oxidative stress. Through discrete dynamic modeling and genetic epistasis, we define that DAF-16 represses HLH-30/TFEB—the main TF activating lipl-3 during fasting. Contrastingly, DAF-16 activates the stress-responsive TF HSF-1 during oxidative stress, which promotes C. elegans survival through induction of lipl-3. Furthermore, the TF MXL-3 contributes to the dominance of HSF-1 at the expense of HLH-30 during oxidative stress but not during fasting. This study shows how context-specific diverting of functional interactions within a molecular network allows cells to specifically respond to a large number of contexts with a limited number of molecular players, a mode of transcriptional regulation we name “contextualized transcription.”

On optimal decision making in brains and social insect colonies

2011 ◽  
pp. 500-522
Author(s):  
James A. R Marshall ◽  
Rafal Bogacz ◽  
Anna Dornhaus ◽  
Robert Planqué ◽  
Tim Kovacs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Insect ◽  
Optimal Decision ◽  
Insect Colonies ◽  
Optimal Decision Making

scholarly journals Oral transfer of chemical cues, growth proteins and hormones in social insects

eLife ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adria C LeBoeuf ◽  
Patrice Waridel ◽  
Colin S Brent ◽  
Andre N Gonçalves ◽  
Laure Menin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Insects ◽  
Social Insect ◽  
Oral Fluid ◽  
Chemical Cues ◽  
Fluid Exchange ◽  
Camponotus Floridanus ◽  
Growth Development ◽  
Behavioral Maturation ◽  
Related Proteins ◽  
Complete Metamorphosis

Social insects frequently engage in oral fluid exchange – trophallaxis – between adults, and between adults and larvae. Although trophallaxis is widely considered a food-sharing mechanism, we hypothesized that endogenous components of this fluid might underlie a novel means of chemical communication between colony members. Through protein and small-molecule mass spectrometry and RNA sequencing, we found that trophallactic fluid in the ant Camponotus floridanus contains a set of specific digestion- and non-digestion related proteins, as well as hydrocarbons, microRNAs, and a key developmental regulator, juvenile hormone. When C. floridanus workers’ food was supplemented with this hormone, the larvae they reared via trophallaxis were twice as likely to complete metamorphosis and became larger workers. Comparison of trophallactic fluid proteins across social insect species revealed that many are regulators of growth, development and behavioral maturation. These results suggest that trophallaxis plays previously unsuspected roles in communication and enables communal control of colony phenotypes.

scholarly journals The order of trait emergence in the evolution of cyanobacterial multicellularity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrin Hammerschmidt ◽  
Giddy Landan ◽  
Fernando Domingues Kümmel Tria ◽  
Jaime Alcorta ◽  
Tal Dagan
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Phenotypic Trait ◽  
Evolutionary Transition ◽  
Evolutionary Transitions ◽  
Differentiated Cells ◽  
Labor Theory ◽  
Significant Events ◽  
Reproductive Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
Multicellular Organisms

AbstractThe transition from unicellular to multicellular organisms is one of the most significant events in the history of life. Key to this process is the emergence of Darwinian individuality at the higher level: groups must become single entities capable of reproduction for selection to shape their evolution. Evolutionary transitions in individuality are characterized by cooperation between the lower level entities and by division of labor. Theory suggests that division of labor may drive the transition to multicellularity by eliminating the trade-off between two incompatible processes that cannot be performed simultaneously in one cell. Here we examine the evolution of the most ancient multicellular transition known today, that of cyanobacteria, where we reconstruct the sequence of ecological and phenotypic trait evolution. Our results show that the prime driver of multicellularity in cyanobacteria was the expansion in metabolic capacity offered by nitrogen fixation, which was accompanied by the emergence of the filamentous morphology and succeeded by a reproductive life cycle. This was followed by the progression of multicellularity into higher complexity in the form of differentiated cells and patterned multicellularity.Significance StatementThe emergence of multicellularity is a major evolutionary transition. The oldest transition, that of cyanobacteria, happened more than 3 to 3.5 billion years ago. We find N2 fixation to be the prime driver of multicellularity in cyanobacteria. This innovation faced the challenge of incompatible metabolic processes since the N2 fixing enzyme (nitrogenase) is sensitive to oxygen, which is abundantly found in cyanobacteria cells performing photosynthesis. At the same time, N2-fixation conferred an adaptive benefit to the filamentous morphology as cells could divide their labour into performing either N2-fixation or photosynthesis. This was followed by the culmination of complex multicellularity in the form of differentiated cells and patterned multicellularity.

scholarly journals Effect of varicocelectomy on sperm parameters, oxidative stress and Chromatin maturity in seminal fluid of infertile patients with varicocele

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-311
Author(s):  
Baghdad Science Journal
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Antioxidant Status ◽  
Seminal Fluid ◽  
Sperm Parameters ◽  
Infertile Patients

This study aimed to determine the effect of varicocelectomy on sperm parameters, oxidant- antioxidant status and chromatin maturity percent. The current study has been conducted on 154 infertile patients complaining from varicocele and varicocelomized men in addition to 25 fertile men as control. The results revealed significant decrease (P

Recruitment Dynamics of Social Insect Colonies

2021 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 1579-1599
Author(s):  
Tao Feng ◽  
Zhipeng Qiu ◽  
Yun Kang
Keyword(s):  
Social Insect ◽  
Insect Colonies

Memoirs: The Biological Relationship between Septobasidium retiforme (B. & C.) Pat. and Aspidiotus Osborni New. and Ckll

1931 ◽  
Vol s2-74 (295) ◽  
pp. 383-438
Author(s):  
JOHN N. COUCH
Keyword(s):  
Host Plant ◽  
Circulatory System ◽  
Late Spring ◽  
Scale Insects ◽  
Insect Colonies ◽  
Biological Relationship

S. retiforme (B. and C.) Pat. is associated with A. Osborni New. and Ckll. The fungus insect relationship is perennial, depending only upon the life of the tree. The fungus furnishes a home and protection for the scale insects. The scale insects suck the juices of the host plant, grow, and finally reproduce their young in vast numbers. These young may pursue one of three courses: (1) they may settle down beneath the same fungus under which they were born and repeat the cycle; or (2) they may crawl out to other fungus-insect colonies; or (3) they may craAvl out and settle down on the clean bark. The latter insects are entirely responsible for the dissemination of the fungus. Certain young become infected soon after they are born. The manner of infection; the development of the fungus within the bodies of the young; and the final growth and establishment of new fungus-insect colonies are described. Parasitized insects are proportionately much more abundant during the late spring and summer months than during the fall and winter months. The type of parasitism is of a highly specialized nature. The fungus enters the circulatory system of the living insects and there develops numerous coils which absorb food from the insect. A number of the insects are finally killed and used up by the fungus; others, though infected, may digest the fungal haustoria and survive to reproduce, and some are free from any infection. Such a conjoint relationship beneficial both to the fungus and to the scale insects is obviously symbiotic.

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