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Figure 1 | BMC Molecular Biology

Figure 1

From: Socio-environmental and endocrine influences on developmental and caste-regulatory gene expression in the eusocial termite Reticulitermes flavipes

Figure 1

Impact of semiochemical and socio-environmental treatments on soldier caste differentiation. (A) Cumulative presoldier formation through Day 25 of assays that compared five different treatments: untreated controls, JH III, JH III+SHE, SHE, and live soldiers for three different colonies. Each replicate dish (n = 5 per colony) contained 15 workers. Results for the three colonies were pooled for analysis. Adjusted LS means are shown; bars with the same letter are not significantly different (P < 0.05). (B) Post-hoc presoldier induction assays conducted using 100 termites per replicate dish (n = 5). The two treatments that were examined included starting compositions of 100 workers + 0 soldiers, or 90 workers + 10 soldiers. No presoldiers formed after 30 d. in treatments that included soldiers at the beginning of assays. This finding reveals that R. flavipes soldiers indeed are capable of inhibiting worker differentiation to presoldiers.

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BMC Molecular Biology

ISSN: 1471-2199

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