currentsinbiology:Cockroaches communicate via bacteria in their feces Like people, cockroaches lik
currentsinbiology: Cockroaches communicate via bacteria in their feces Like people, cockroaches like to hang out together, especially when they have nothing else to do. Now, researchers know why. Gut bacteria pooped along with their feces emit odors that the roaches find attractive. When those bacteria are missing, cockroaches tend to go it alone, researchers have discovered. Gut microbes in other organisms may likewise influence behavior in ways we have yet to appreciate. About 80% to 100% of young cockroaches tested preferred feces over sterile water, and although the difference in attraction was not as clear-cut between extracts of germ-free and normal feces, there were significantly more cockroaches aggregating by the normal feces extract, the researchers report online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Without the microbes in the feces, the cockroaches no longer banded together very much. “The aggregation properties decline tremendously,” Schal says. Cockroaches’ gut microbes may make the insects stick together. Ayaka Wada-Katsumata and Coby Schal Just imagine if humans communicated in the same way that cockroaches do! -- source link
#science#microbiology#bacteria#cockroaches#gut bacteria