Sexual dimorphism and phenotypic plasticity in the antennal lobe of a stingless bee, Melipona scutellaris

Autor(es)

Roselino, Ana Carolina ^{[1, 2, 3]} ; Hrncir, Michael ^[4] ; Landim, Carminda da Cruz ^[2] ; Giurfa, Martin ^{[5, 6]} ; Sandoz, Jean-Christophe ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Paris 11, CNRS, Evolut Genomes Behav & Ecol Lab, IRD UMR 9191, F-91198 Gif Sur Yvette - France

^[2] Univ Estadual Paulista, Inst Biociencias Rio Claro, Dept Biol, Rio Claro, BR-13506900 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[3] Univ Paris 11, Fac Sci Orsay, F-91405 Orsay - France

^[4] Univ Fed Rural Semi Arido, Dept Ciencias Anim, BR-59625900 Mossoro - Brazil

^[5] CNRS, Ctr Rech Cognit Anim, F-31062 Toulouse 9 - France

^[6] Univ Toulouse UPS, Ctr Rech Cognit Anim, F-31062 Toulouse 9 - France

• Tipo de documento: Artigo de Revisão
• Fonte: JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY; v. 523, n. 10, p. 1461-1473, JUL 1 2015.
• Citações Web of Science: 11

Resumo

Among social insects, the stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponini), a mainly tropical group of highly eusocial bees, present an intriguing variety of well-described olfactory-dependent behaviors showing both caste- and sex-specific adaptations. By contrast, little is known about the neural structures underlying such behavioral richness or the olfactory detection and processing abilities of this insect group. This study therefore aimed to provide the first detailed description and comparison of the brains and primary olfactory centers, the antennal lobes, of the different members of a colony of the stingless bee Melipona scutellaris. Global neutral red staining, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and 3D reconstructions were used to compare the brain structures of males, workers, and virgin queens with a special emphasis on the antennal lobe. We found significant differences between both sexes and castes with regard to the relative volumes of olfactory and visual neuropils in the brain and also in the number and volume of the olfactory glomeruli. In addition, we identified one (workers, queens) and three or four (males) macroglomeruli in the antennal lobe. In both sexes and all castes, the largest glomerulus (G1) was located at a similar position relative to four identified landmark glomeruli, close to the entrance of the antennal nerve. This similarity in position suggests that G1s of workers, virgin queens, and males of M. scutellaris may correspond to the same glomerular entity, possibly tuned to queen-emitted volatiles since all colony members need this information. J. Comp. Neurol. 523:1461-1473, 2015. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 12/10630-9 - Estudo neuroanatômico dos circuitos cerebrais olfatórios em função do nível de organização social de certas espécies de abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apidae: Meliponini, Augochlorini, Bombini)
• Beneficiário: Ana Carolina Roselino
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Estágio de Pesquisa - Pós-Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 10/03692-2 - O comportamento natural e os sistemas neurais: a escultura da evolução sobre estratégias bio-ecológicas nos insetos (Hymenoptera, Meliponini, Augochlorini).
• Beneficiário: Ana Carolina Roselino
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado