85 Results Found

Termites are eusocial insects with functionally specialized workers and soldiers, both sharing the same genotype. Additionally, lower termites host flagellates in their hindguts that assist in wood digestion. However, worker-biased and soldier-biased...

This study aimed to investigate the venom sac extracts (VSEs) of the European hornet (EH) Vespa crabro (Linnaeus, 1758) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), focusing on the differences between stinging females, gynes (G), and workers (W), at the protein level. U...

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) represent a class of RNA molecules that do not encode proteins. Generally studied for their regulatory potential in model insects, relatively little is known about their immunoregulatory functions in different castes of...

The honey bee Apis cerana cerana (A. c. cerana), a subspecies of Apis cerana, is endemic in China and possesses a valuable ecological niche. Understanding the ways to protect this honey bee’s populations is crucial, but this topic has been unde...

A honeybee (Apis mellifera) colony is a superorganism of complex social dynamics. Within the colony, communication between individuals and castes is crucial for maintaining homeostasis. Such complex interactions are possible thanks to semiochemicals...

Honey bees are important species for the study of epigenetics. Female honey bee larvae with the same genotype can develop into phenotypically distinct organisms (sterile workers and fertile queens) depending on conditions such as diet. Previous studi...

The Dufour’s and venom glands are the most developed glands connected to the female reproductive organs, playing important roles in defense, foraging, information exchange, and reproduction in ants. The main chemical secretions of these glands...

Antennae are the primary sensory organs in insects, where a variety of sensilla are distributed for the perception of the chemical environment. In eusocial insects, colony function is maintained by a division of labor between reproductive and non-rep...

Bumblebees are important insect pollinators for many wildflowers and crops. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding small RNAs that regulate different biological functions in insects. In this study, the miRNAs in the heads of the three castes of...

The Formosan subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanus) is an important worldwide pest, each year causing millions of dollars in structural damage and control costs. Termite colonies are composed of several phenotypically distinct castes. Termites...

The physiological state of an insect depends on efficiently functioning immune mechanisms such as cellular and humoral defenses. However, compounds participating in these mechanisms also regulate reproductive caste formation and are responsible for r...

Honey bees are typical model organisms for the study of caste differentiation, and the juvenile hormone (JH) is a crucial link in the regulatory network of caste differentiation in honey bees. To investigate the mechanism of JH-mediated caste differe...

Termite soldiers are a unique caste among social insects, and their differentiation can be induced by Juvenile hormone (JH) from workers through two molts (worker–presoldier–soldier). However, the molecular mechanism underlying the worker...

Bumblebees, as pollinators, play an important role in maintaining natural and agricultural ecosystems. Antennae with sensilla of bumblebees as social insects have essential effects in foraging, nest searching, courting, and mating, and are different...

Queen signals are known to regulate reproductive harmony within eusocial colonies by influencing worker behavior and ovarian physiology. However, decades of research have resulted in the identification of just a few queen signals, and studies of thei...

Several thousand Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) including worker, nymph, soldier, neotenic and alate castes were collected from three pine logs brought into the laboratory on dates five years apart. The neotenics, all nymphoid, were divided into th...

The occurrence of the honeybee caste polyphenism arises when a change in diet is transduced into cellular metabolic responses, resulting in a developmental shift mediated by gene expression. The aim of this investigation was to detect and describe th...

The association between the division of labour and worker body size of ants is typical for species that maintain physical castes. Some studies showed that this phenomenon can be also observed in the absence of distinct morphological subcastes among w...

The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta, RIFA) is a globally invasive species with strong sensitivity to environmental conditions. This study investigated the seasonal dynamics and colony structure of RIFA over the course of one year across two...

The olfactory system is essential for honeybees to adapt to complex and ever-changing environments and maintain cohesiveness. The Eastern honeybee Apis cerana is native to Asia and has a long history of managed beekeeping in China. In this study, we...

Insects heavily rely on the olfactory system for food, mating, and predator evasion. However, the caste-related olfactory differences in Apis cerana, a eusocial insect, remain unclear. To explore the peripheral and primary center of the olfactory sys...

The reproductive division of labor is a fundamental characteristic of eusociality; thus, understanding the caste determination system underlying the reproductive division of labor would shed more light on the evolution of eusociality. In this review,...

To systematically investigate how the olfactory system of Bombus terrestris adapts to its social division of labor and reproductive strategies, this study integrated the micromorphology of antennal sensilla and the expression profiles of olfactory re...

Background/Objectives: The larval stage plays a pivotal role in determining caste and sex in Apis mellifera. This study integrates RNA-seq, WGCNA, and alternative splicing analyses to explore gene expression differences among 2-day-old worker, drone,...

The aim of the study was to compare the activities of proteases and their inhibitors in the hemolymph of honeybee workers reared in small-cell combs (SMC) and standard-cell combs (STC) in laboratory cage tests. The analyses conducted in laboratory co...

The most recent developments and applications in volume-averaged modeling of solidification processes have been reviewed. Since the last reviews of this topic by Beckermann and co-workers [Applied Mech. Rev. 1993, p. 1; Annual Rev. Heat Transfer 1995...

The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, is a eusocial insect that relies on a sophisticated chemical communication system for colony organization and function. Its olfactory system is vital for detecting semiochemicals in the environment...

The longevity phenomenon is entirely controlled by the insulin signaling pathway (IIS-pathway). Both vertebrates and invertebrates have IIS-pathways that are comparable to one another, though no one has previously described de novo transcriptome asse...

Fungus-farming termites host gut microbial communities that contribute to the pre-digestion of plant biomass for manuring the fungal mutualist, and potentially to the production of defensive compounds that suppress antagonists. Termite colonies are c...

Eusocial insects, such as bees, ants, and wasps of the Hymenoptera and termites of the Blattodea, are able to generate remarkable diversity in morphology and behavior despite being genetically uniform within a colony. Most eusocial insect species dis...

P450 enzymes are integral to insect physiology, metabolism, hormone regulation, and adaptation to environmental challenges. By leveraging transcriptomic and genomic data, this study characterized the expression of 68 unique P450 genes across developm...

Most species are either parasites or exploited by parasites, making parasite–host interactions a driver of evolution. Parasites with complex life cycles often evolve strategies to facilitate transmission to the definitive host by manipulating t...

Many social and environmental variables can affect the interactions among individuals in an insect colony that fundamentally structure its social organization. Along with important attributes such as age and caste, immunity-related factors such as th...

Analyzing the information-rich content of RNA can help uncover genetic events associated with social insect castes or other social polymorphisms. Here, we exploit a series of cDNA libraries previously derived from whole-body tissue of different caste...

Social insect societies are characterized by a high level of organization. This is made possible through a remarkably complex array of pheromonal signals produced by all members of the colony. The queen’s pheromones signal the presence of a fertile f...

Peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs) are a class of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that activate the innate immune system in response to microbial infection by detection of peptidoglycan, a distinct component of bacterial cell walls. Bioi...

Nestmate recognition is the primary defense mechanism maintaining the integrity of eusocial insect colonies. While social parasitism is widespread in Hymenoptera, it is rarely documented in termites, and the behavioral boundaries preventing interspec...

This article deals with the possibility of using 3D-printed models as an input for the production of a mould for cast iron castings. This new progressive process is significantly faster (with sufficient accuracy) compared to the current way of making...

Termites live in colonies, and their members belong to different castes that each have their specific role within the termite society. In well-established colonies of higher termites, the only food the founding female, the queen, receives is saliva f...

Venoms of invertebrates contain an enormous diversity of proteins, peptides, and other classes of substances. Insect venoms are characterized by a large interspecific variation resulting in extended lists of venom compounds. The venom composition of...

There is growing evidence that paper wasps’ (Polistes’) fate as workers or reproductive females (gynes) is affected by cues that exist at the larval stage and during eclosion. The nutritional requirements for workers and gynes are differe...

Age-related changes in behavior and sensory perception have been observed in a wide variety of animal species. In ants and other eusocial insects, workers often progress through an ordered sequence of olfactory-driven behavioral tasks. Notably, these...

This paper presents the results of an interactive virtual reality (VR) training program aimed at enhancing Health and Safety (H&S) management practices in quarrying operations. The course was designed based on industry best practices, as well as...

Termites are social insects that live in colonies headed by reproductive castes. The breeding system is defined by the number of reproductive individuals in a colony and the castes to which they belong. There is tremendous variation in the breeding s...

Olfactory systems in eusocial insects play a vital role in the discrimination of various chemical cues. Odorant receptors (ORs) are critical for odorant detection, and this family has undergone extensive expansion in ants. In this study, we re-annota...

Prefabricated building construction is a crucial approach to achieving “green” building goals, yet it differs significantly from traditional cast-in-place construction methods. Due to complex cross-operations, high mechanization requireme...

The colonial visual archive has occupied in recent decades the work of scholars and artists from indigenous and racial minority communities, who revealed it as a major apparatus of historical meta-narratives. This article aims at pushing forward this...

Colony foundation and early growth is a critical period in the life-cycle of a termite colony, as the initial family unit is resource limited. One such resource is nitrogen, which is essential for initial colony growth. This study examined the whole-...

A lack of confidence in the efficacy of respiratory protection can contribute to uncertainty among workers and cast doubt on workplace safety. To date, no research has been conducted to study and understand the introduction of elastomeric half-mask r...

With the rapid increase in global population aging, the incidence and mortality rates of age-related diseases are rising, becoming a worldwide issue. Therefore, researching and discovering natural compounds with anti-aging properties is crucial. Soci...