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First published online November 30, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 4351-4358 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.009399
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Phenotypic plasticity in female naked mole-rats after removal from reproductive suppression

Christine M. Dengler-Crish1,* and Kenneth C. Catania2

1 Neuroscience Graduate Program, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
2 Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: christine.crish{at}vanderbilt.edu)

Accepted 25 September 2007

Naked mole-rats are fossorial African rodents that live in large, eusocial groups. Adult subordinate female mole-rats are reproductively suppressed by the dominant breeding female in their colonies. As a result, subordinate females remain reproductively quiescent for their entire lives unless they are removed from the suppressive presence of the dominant female. This makes subordinate female mole-rats a tractable model for studying phenotypic plasticity. We measured skeletal growth of subordinate, suppressed females as they changed reproductive status. After housing subordinate female mole-rats separately from their home colonies, these animals experienced a growth surge that dramatically increased their body mass and length. After removal from reproductive suppression, females showed an 82% increase in body mass and a 37% increase in the length of their lumbar spines. The lumbar vertebrae were the only skeletal structures that exhibited this puberty-like growth. After colony separation, body mass and lumbar vertebrae growth rates peaked and remained elevated for several weeks before returning to control levels – suggestive of a puberty-like `growth spurt'. Although previous studies have characterized pregnancy-induced lumbar spine elongation in female mole-rats, we demonstrate a significant change in the body morphology of female mole-rats after removal from reproductive suppression but before the first pregnancy.

Key words: eusocial, vertebrae, bone, social status, puberty, reproduction


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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2007