Diverse societies are more productive: a lesson from ants

The fitness consequences of animal personalities (also known as behavioural syndromes) have recently been studied in several solitary species. However, the adaptive significance of collective personalities in social insects and especially of behavioural variation among group members remains largely unexplored. Although intracolonial behavioural variation is an important component of division of labour, and as such a key feature for the success of societies, empirical links between behavioural variation and fitness are scarce. We investigated aggression, exploration and brood care behaviour in Temnothorax longispinosus ant colonies. We focused on two distinct aspects: intercolonial variability and its consistency across time and contexts, and intracolonial variability and its influence on productivity. Aggressiveness was consistent over four to five months with a new generation of workers emerging in between trial series. Other behaviours were not consistent over time. Exploration of novel environments responded to the sequence of assays: colonies were faster in discovering when workers previously encountered opponents in aggression experiments. Suites of correlated behaviours (e.g. aggression-exploration syndrome) present in the first series did not persist over time. Finally, colonies with more intracolonial behavioural variation in brood care and exploration of novel objects were more productive under standardized conditions than colonies with less variation.     

Fitness costs of worker specialization for ant societies

Division of labour is of fundamental importance for the success of societies, yet little is known about how individual specialization affects the fitness of the group as a whole. While specialized workers may be more efficient in the tasks they perform than generalists, they may also lack the flexibility to respond to rapid shifts in task needs. Such rigidity could impose fitness costs when societies face dynamic and unpredictable events, such as an attack by socially parasitic slavemakers. Here, we experimentally assess the colony-level fitness consequences of behavioural specialization in Temnothorax longispinosus ants that are attacked by the slavemaker ant T. americanus. We manipulated the social organization of 102 T. longispinosus colonies, based on the behavioural responses of all 3842 workers. We find that strict specialization is disadvantageous for a colony''s annual reproduction and growth during slave raids. These fitness costs may favour generalist strategies in dynamic environments, as we also demonstrate that societies exposed to slavemakers in the field show a lower degree of specialization than those originating from slavemaker-free populations. Our findings provide an explanation for the ubiquity of generalists and highlight their importance for the flexibility and functional robustness of entire societies.     

Pattern Formation by Competition: A Biological Example

We present a simple model based on a reaction-diffusion equation to explain pattern formation in a multicellular bacterium (Streptomyces). We assume competition for resources as the basic mechanism that leads to pattern formation; in particular we are able to reproduce the spatial pattern formed by bacterial aerial mycelium in the case of growth in minimal (low resources) and maximal (large resources) culture media.     

The shoot meristem as a site of continuous organogenesis

In higher plants, organ formation occurs throughout life. This remarkable process occurs at a collection of stem cells termed the shoot meristem. The shoot meristem originates during embryogenesis and is later responsible for generating the above-ground portion of the plant. The shoot meristem can be thought of as having two zones, a central zone containing meristematic cells in an undifferentiated state, and a surrounding peripheral zone where cells enter a specific developmental pathway toward a differentiated state. Recent advances have revealed several genes that specifically regulate meristem development inArabidopsis. The function of these genes and their genetic interactions are described.     

The ‘division of labour’ model of eye evolution

The ‘division of labour’ model of eye evolution is elaborated here. We propose that the evolution of complex, multicellular animal eyes started from a single, multi-functional cell type that existed in metazoan ancestors. This ancient cell type had at least three functions: light detection via a photoreceptive organelle, light shading by means of pigment granules and steering through locomotor cilia. Located around the circumference of swimming ciliated zooplankton larvae, these ancient cells were able to mediate phototaxis in the absence of a nervous system. This precursor then diversified, by cell-type functional segregation, into sister cell types that specialized in different subfunctions, evolving into separate photoreceptor cells, shading pigment cells (SPCs) or ciliated locomotor cells. Photoreceptor sensory cells and ciliated locomotor cells remained interconnected by newly evolving axons, giving rise to an early axonal circuit. In some evolutionary lines, residual functions prevailed in the specialized cell types that mirror the ancient multi-functionality, for instance, SPCs expressing an opsin as well as possessing rhabdomer-like microvilli, vestigial cilia and an axon. Functional segregation of cell types in eye evolution also explains the emergence of more elaborate photosensory–motor axonal circuits, with interneurons relaying the visual information.     

Skills,division of labour and economies of scale among Amazonian hunters and South Indian honey collectors

In foraging and other productive activities, individuals make choices regarding whether and with whom to cooperate, and in what capacities. The size and composition of cooperative groups can be understood as a self-organized outcome of these choices, which are made under local ecological and social constraints. This article describes a theoretical framework for explaining the size and composition of foraging groups based on three principles: (i) the sexual division of labour; (ii) the intergenerational division of labour; and (iii) economies of scale in production. We test predictions from the theory with data from two field contexts: Tsimane'' game hunters of lowland Bolivia, and Jenu Kuruba honey collectors of South India. In each case, we estimate the impacts of group size and individual group members'' effort on group success. We characterize differences in the skill requirements of different foraging activities and show that individuals participate more frequently in activities in which they are more efficient. We evaluate returns to scale across different resource types and observe higher returns at larger group sizes in foraging activities (such as hunting large game) that benefit from coordinated and complementary roles. These results inform us that the foraging group size and composition are guided by the motivated choice of individuals on the basis of relative efficiency, benefits of cooperation, opportunity costs and other social considerations.     

肿瘤治疗中的多细胞耐受性与三维细胞培养

肿瘤治疗中的多细胞耐受性是由于体内肿瘤具有三维结构而产生的对药物、射线等作用的耐受性。近年来人们利用体外三维细胞培养技术研究多细胞耐受性,发现其机制主要为三维结构相关的耐受性和接触性耐受性,并发现一些逆转或减弱多细胞耐受性的方法,显示了其作为临床肿瘤单独治疗或联合治疗的应用前景。     

Influence of extracellular matrix and collagen components on alveolar type 2 cell morphology and function

Summary The effects of various extracellular matrices and collagenous components on the morphology, growth, and function of cultured alveolar type 2 cells is examined. Cells grown on an endothelial matrix (EC) showed the greatest adherence, some cell division, and spreading to reach confluence sooner than cells grown on an epithelial matrix or on various types of collagen. The attenuated cells from all cultures were not true type 1 cells because, on trypsinization, they detached as sheets, reverted immediately to a cuboidal shape held together by junctional complexes, and showed an apparently normal content of lamellar bodies. The greatest synthesis of disaturated phosphatidylcholine (DSPC) was seen in cells grown on EC soon after confluence, but all cultures showed reduced but equal levels of DSPC-DNA by Day 4. This occured whether cells were attenuated or cuboidal in shape. The results suggest that some component(s) of the endothelial matrix at the alveolar basement membrane facilitates epithelial cell growth. However, over longer culture periods the matrix preparations had little effect on type 2 cell proliferation whereas function diminished. This suggests that maintenance of these cells as normal type 2 cells or their further differentiation to the type 1 form requires some additional cell derived factor(s). This research was supported by grants from the Medical Research Council of Canada and the Council for Tobacco Research, U.S.A., Inc.     

对去血清后HITASY细胞分子表达及表型分析

以人血管平滑肌细胞克隆株HITASY为实验材料,探讨HITASY细胞分子表达与表型转换间的关系,为阐明血管新生内膜形成及再狭窄病理机制提供实验依据.实验表明,在含血清或去血清培养条件下,平滑肌细胞于体外发生表型转换.去血清后细胞外基质蛋白合成中止,增殖及移行能力趋于降低,细胞特异性标志物平滑肌α肌动蛋白、肌球蛋白重链及钙调结合蛋白等的表达随去血清时间延长而增加.进一步实验证实,在血管活性介质作用下,胞液钙离子浓度骤增产生膜信号级联反应,引发细胞面积减小而显示收缩功能.上述处于分化表型的细胞经补加血清后其表型特征又恢复到原有去分化型,提示体外培养人平滑肌细胞可发生表型转换.为验证去血清诱导表型转换过程中相关基因的表达变化,用差异显示PCR筛选出E1A激活基因阻遏子,在细胞处于分化表型时表达上调并对细胞增殖伴有较强抑制作用.     

Genome-wide analysis of alternative reproductive phenotypes in honeybee workers

A defining feature of social insects is the reproductive division of labour, in which workers usually forego all reproduction to help their mother queen to reproduce. However, little is known about the molecular basis of this spectacular form of altruism. Here, we compared gene expression patterns between nonreproductive, altruistic workers and reproductive, non-altruistic workers in queenless honeybee colonies using a whole-genome microarray analysis. Our results demonstrate massive differences in gene expression patterns between these two sets of workers, with a total of 1292 genes being differentially expressed. In nonreproductive workers, genes associated with energy metabolism and respiration, flight and foraging behaviour, detection of visible light, flight and heart muscle contraction and synaptic transmission were overexpressed relative to reproductive workers. This implies they probably had a higher whole-body energy metabolism and activity rate and were most likely actively foraging, whereas same-aged reproductive workers were not. This pattern is predicted from evolutionary theory, given that reproductive workers should be less willing to compromise their reproductive futures by carrying out high-risk tasks such as foraging or other energetically expensive tasks. By contrast, reproductive workers mainly overexpressed oogenesis-related genes compared to nonreproductive ones. With respect to key switches for ovary activation, several genes involved in steroid biosynthesis were upregulated in reproductive workers, as well as genes known to respond to queen and brood pheromones, genes involved in TOR and insulin signalling pathways and genes located within quantitative trait loci associated with reproductive capacity in honeybees. Overall, our results provide unique insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying alternative reproductive phenotypes in honeybee workers.     

Effects of a juvenile hormone analogue on honey bee foraging behaviour and alarm pheromone production

Worker honey bees treated with 250 μg of the juvenile hormone analogue methoprene shifted from the broodnest to the food storage region prematurely and displayed precocious foraging behaviour. Treatments with 25 and 2.5 μg caused slight but non-significant effects. Methoprene did not influence individual foraging performance as measured by mean number of foraging trips/h, mean amount of time spent foraging/h or mean duration of the total foraging period. Methoprene also induced premature production of two alarm pheromones, 2-heptanone and isopentyl acetate. These results support the hypothesis that juvenile hormone regulates temporal division of labour in the honey bee colony.