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Neuroprotection and Physiological Resilience to Aging in Insect and Mammalian Systems

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Neuroprotection and Physiological Resilience to Aging in Insect and Mammalian Systems fcell-09-673172 June 9, 2021 Time: 20:1 # 1 MINI REVIEW published: 15 June 2021 doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.673172 Eusociality and Senescence: Neuroprotection and Physiological Resilience to Aging in Insect and Mammalian Systems Ysabel Milton Giraldo1,2*, Mario L. Muscedere3,4 and James F. A. Traniello3,5 1 Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States, 2 Graduate Neuroscience Program, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States, 3 Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States, 4 Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States, 5 Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States Are eusociality and extraordinary aging polyphenisms evolutionarily coupled? The remarkable disparity in longevity between social insect queens and sterile workers— decades vs. months, respectively—has long been recognized. In mammals, the lifespan of eusocial naked mole rats is extremely long—roughly 10 times greater than that of mice. Is this robustness to senescence associated with social evolution and Edited by: shared mechanisms of developmental timing, neuroprotection, antioxidant defenses, Alan A. Cohen, and neurophysiology? Focusing on brain senescence, we examine correlates and Université de Sherbrooke, Canada consequences of aging across two divergent eusocial clades and how they differ from Reviewed by: solitary taxa. Chronological age and physiological indicators of neural deterioration, Olav Rueppell, University of Alberta, Canada including DNA damage or cell death, appear to be decoupled in eusocial insects. In Rochelle Buffenstein, some species, brain cell death does not increase with worker age and DNA damage Calico Life Sciences LLC, United States occurs at similar rates between queens and workers. In comparison, naked mole *Correspondence: rats exhibit characteristics of neonatal mice such as protracted development that may Ysabel Milton Giraldo offer protection from aging and environmental stressors. Antioxidant defenses appear [email protected] to be regulated differently across taxa, suggesting independent adaptations to life Specialty section: history and environment. Eusocial insects and naked mole rats appear to have evolved This article was submitted to different mechanisms that lead to similar senescence-resistant phenotypes. Careful Signaling, selection of comparison taxa and further exploration of the role of metabolism in aging a section of the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental can reveal mechanisms that preserve brain functionality and physiological resilience in Biology eusocial species. Received: 26 February 2021 Accepted: 24 May 2021 Keywords: hymenoptera, termite, naked mole rat, lifespan, antioxidant, neurodegeneration, metabolism, polyethism Published: 15 June 2021 Citation: Giraldo YM, Muscedere ML and INTRODUCTION Traniello JFA (2021) Eusociality and Senescence: Neuroprotection and Physiological Resilience to Aging Eusocial animals, characterized by reproductive division of labor, cooperative brood care, and in Insect and Mammalian Systems. overlap of generations, can have extraordinary lifespans. Eusocial hymenopteran (ants, bees, Front. Cell Dev. Biol. 9:673172. and wasps) queens may live 100 times longer than solitary insects. In some eusocial species doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.673172 there is a similar lifespan differential between queens and workers (Keller and Genoud, 1997; Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology| www.frontiersin.org 1 June 2021| Volume 9| Article 673172 fcell-09-673172 June 9, 2021 Time: 20:1 # 2 Giraldo et al. Eusociality and Senescence Kramer and Schaible, 2013). Naked mole-rats (NMRs), exemplar DEVELOPMENTAL TIMING AND eusocial mammals, also have highly extended lifespans compared NEOTENY to solitary rodents (Buffenstein, 2008) and do not exhibit typical age-associated increases in mortality (Ruby et al., 2018). What does it mean to live a long time? Measuring lifespans These clades present opportunities to examine molecular and simply as the interval between birth or hatching and death physiological processes underlying differential longevity, their ignores significant variation across solitary and eusocial taxa degree of conservation, and relationships to social evolution in the timing and significance of developmental events related (Lucas and Keller, 2020). Aging resilience is often manifest as a to senescence. Ant queen larval stages are relatively short lack of deterioration in neural, reproductive, or immune function and adults may live decades (Hölldobler and Wilson, 1990). (Buffenstein, 2008; Finch, 2009; Stenvinkel and Shiels, 2019). Immature periodical cicadas and mayflies live for years, but Robustness to senescence in eusocial taxa may be associated adults live only days (Britain, 1990; Grant, 2005). Variation with adaptations involving damage-repair mechanisms, neuronal in lifespan and developmental timing is also evident across protection, neurometabolic efficiency, and fossorial ecology, mammals (Healy, 2015; Healy et al., 2019). However, the among other factors. Social development—age-related changes relationship between developmental timing and aging in eusocial in behavioral role or task performance—may also be involved. systems is unclear. Here we focus on senescence in eusocial insects and NMRs to Eusociality may be associated with extended developmental identify commonalities in aging phenotypes, examine anti-aging periods and the retention of juvenile traits into adulthood mechanisms, and suggest future research. (neoteny or pedomorphy; Orr et al., 2016) that may affect lifespan. Brain development in NMRs occurs at a significantly different pace than in mice. Although similar in size, NMRs CASTE DETERMINATION AND AGING are born with larger, more slowly developing brains. In eusocial insects, major developmental transitions occur from Reproductive caste is determined nutritionally in honeybees, by egg to adult and during age-related behavioral development nutrition and social factors in many wasps (O’Donnell, 1998; within adulthood (Whitfield et al., 2003; Seid and Traniello, Berens et al., 2015), and by social, environmental, and genetic 2006). Eusocial insect neoteny could therefore be evident in factors in ants (Schwander et al., 2010). In most cases, caste delayed pupation or altered rates of adult maturation and is determined early in development and remains fixed for life, behavioral development relative to solitary taxa. Indeed, ant although in a few taxa, trajectories are more plastic. In the species with shorter egg-to-eclosion development may have ant Harpagnathos salatator, workers can facultatively become longer latencies to the onset of foraging, suggesting a tradeoff reproductive upon queen loss (Liebig et al., 2000; Peeters et al., between development and behavioral maturation (Muscedere, 2000). Similarly, queens are replaced after dominance contests in 2011). Also, in the ant Pheidole dentata, newly eclosed minor NMRs (Clarke and Faulkes, 1997). Cape honeybee workers may workers possess undeveloped mandibular muscles (Muscedere become egg-laying pseudoqueens and increase their lifespan to et al., 2011) and small task repertoires lacking efficiency 5 months (Rueppell et al., 2016). Therefore, social insects have (Muscedere et al., 2009). Such morphological and behavioral plastic developmental trajectories of senescence. Changes in gene immaturity would likely be costly in adult solitary insects. expression (Gospocic et al., 2017; Shields et al., 2018) can drive P. dentata minor worker brains collaterally undergo significant differentiation toward reproductive competence to influence age-related changes in size, monoamine titer, and synaptic lifespan. Reproductive status and longer lifespans correlate with structure as they mature behaviorally (Seid and Traniello, 2005; a reduction in physiological aging and limited senescence in the Seid et al., 2005; Muscedere and Traniello, 2012; Muscedere brain (Finch, 2009; Parker, 2010; Giraldo and Traniello, 2014; et al., 2012, 2013). Whether worker “neoteny” is altriciality or Giraldo et al., 2016). accelerated larval and pupal maturation, the process appears NMRs, which differ from mice in many physiological and to enable workers to eclose earlier as undeveloped adults. The biochemical markers of aging (Buffenstein, 2008), have a 30C influence of pace of development on aging and longevity remain year lifespan and significantly delayed senescence (Lee et al., unexplored. 2020). Although early studies reported lifespans between queens The adaptive nature of developmental patterns and their and subordinates were similar (Sherman and Jarvis, 2002), a more distribution across eusocial species that vary in ecology and recent and comprehensive study revealed that NMR breeders, life histories is unstudied. Division of labor in NMR colonies like many eusocial insects, have lower age-associated mortality among non-breeders can be influenced by age, with older than non-breeders (Ruby et al., 2018). Similarly, reproductives individuals generally performing less work, but factors such as of the eusocial Damaraland mole rat are longer lived than body size and rank can interact in non-linear ways (Gilbert et al., non-breeders (Schmidt et al., 2013), suggesting convergence of 2020). In NMRs, neoteny may be an adaptation to living in aging phenotypes. However, longevity may not correlate with hypoxic burrows: neonatal mammal brains often have higher eusociality per se (Lucas and
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