title: Ant nestmate and non-nestmate discrimination by a chemosensory sensillum.
abstract: In animal societies, chemical communication plays an important role in conflict and cooperation. For ants, cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) blends produced by non-nestmates elicit overt aggression. We describe a sensory sensillum on the antennae of the carpenter ant Camponotus japonicus that functions in nestmate discrimination. This sensillum is multiporous and responds only to non-nestmate CHC blends. This suggests a role for a peripheral recognition mechanism in detecting colony-specific chemical signals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biology, Faculty of Textile Science, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan. mamiko@kit.ac.jp
authors.forename: Mamiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozaki
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wada-Katsumata
authors.forename: Kazuyo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujikawa
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yokohari
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Satoji
authors.forename: Tomoyosi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nisimura
authors.forename: Ryohei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yamaoka
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D002628:Chemoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D012679:Sense Organs / Q000502:physiology; D012919:Social Behavior
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D019476:Insect Proteins