@article{9c41e8ccc5144e4ca54cdc10527c5bdd,
title = "Caste-biased patterns of brain investment in the subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes",
abstract = "Investment into neural tissue is expected to reflect the specific sensory and behavioral capabilities of a particular organism. Termites are eusocial insects that exhibit a caste system in which individuals can develop into one of several morphologically and behaviorally distinct castes. However, it is unclear to what extent these differences between castes are reflected in the anatomy of the brain. To address this question, we used deformation-based morphometry to conduct pairwise comparisons between the brains of different castes in the eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes. Workers exhibited enlargement in the antennal lobes and mushroom bodies, while reproductives showed increased investment into the optic lobes and central body. In addition, caste-specific enlargement was observed in regions that could not be mapped to distinct neuropils, most notably in soldiers. These findings demonstrate a significant influence of caste development on brain anatomy in termites alongside convergence with eusocial hymenopteran systems.",
keywords = "Entomology, Wildlife behavior, Zoology",
author = "Austin Merchant and Xuguo Zhou",
note = "We are grateful to Sebastian Cachero at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the United Kingdom for providing the script used for brain comparisons. This work was supported by the US Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (USDA-NIFA-AFRI) Predoctoral Fellowship (award no.: 2021-67034-34975) to A.M. and by the USDA-NIFA Hatch projects (KY008071and KY008090) to X.G.Z. A.M. and X.G.Z. designed the study; A.M. conceived the experiments, analyzed the data, and drafted the manuscript; X.G.Z. revised and finalized the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript. The authors declare no competing interests. We are grateful to Sebastian Cachero at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the United Kingdom for providing the script used for brain comparisons. This work was supported by the US Department of Agriculture , National Institute of Food and Agriculture , Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (USDA-NIFA-AFRI) Predoctoral Fellowship (award no.: 2021-67034-34975 ) to A.M., and by the USDA-NIFA Hatch projects ( KY008071 and KY008090 ) to X.G.Z.",
year = "2024",
month = jun,
day = "21",
doi = "10.1016/j.isci.2024.110052",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "27",
journal = "iScience",
issn = "2589-0042",
publisher = "Elsevier Inc.",
number = "6",
}