{
  "abstract": "Eusociality is exceptionally rare in mammals, and its proximate mechanisms remain poorly understood. Naked mole-rats provide a striking example, with reproduction restricted to a single queen, while all other females remain infertile 1 . Here we identify a chemical signal in queens that can regulate this reproductive hierarchy. Isopropyl myristate is a low-volatility ester that is enriched in queens and nearly absent from non-breeding animals. Isopropyl myristate is detected by peripheral and central olfactory neurons and elicits avoidance in high-ranking animals. Exposure alters levels of prolactin and progesterone in non-breeders to suppress reproduction. Daily addition of isopropyl myristate to a queenless colony prevented queen succession, whereas withdrawal triggered aggression and reproductive competition. Isopropyl myristate was also detected in breeding females of several Fukomys mole-rat species, but reaches higher levels in naked mole-rats, paralleling their extreme reproductive skew. These findings reveal a chemical cue that can mediate reproductive suppression in a mammal, linking insect and mammalian eusociality.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Zoology and Entomology, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt. mohammed.khallaf@mdc-berlin.de",
    "Molecular Physiology of Somatic Sensation Laboratory, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany. mohammed.khallaf@mdc-berlin.de",
    "Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa",
    "Molecular Physiology of Somatic Sensation Laboratory, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany",
    "Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany",
    "Social Systems and Circuits Group, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany",
    "Iconeus, Paris, France",
    "Physics for Medicine Paris, INSERM, ESPCI Paris, CNRS, PSL Research University, Paris, France",
    "Department of Evolution of Sensory and Physiological Systems, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Martinsried, Germany",
    "Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic",
    "Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany",
    "Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Pathology, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania",
    "Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany",
    "Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, VA, USA",
    "Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa",
    "Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. glewin@mdc-berlin.de",
    "German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), partner site Berlin, Berlin, Germany. glewin@mdc-berlin.de",
    "Molecular Physiology of Somatic Sensation Laboratory, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany. glewin@mdc-berlin.de"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 21,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Mohammed A. Khallaf",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1402-3858"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Daniel W Hart",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4592-558X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Wenhan Luo",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5202-8855"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        3,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Firdevs Murad"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Felipe Cybis Pereira",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-6124-0466"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Daniel Mendez-Aranda",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9668-941X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Nicole Hagenah",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3864-2469"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Alice Rossi"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Valérie Bégay",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9002-4211"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Jan Okrouhlík",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9935-7859"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Dietmar Krautwurst",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3350-8682"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Mungo Kisinza Ngalameno",
      "orcid": "0009-0005-2911-9130"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "André Ganswindt",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1474-7602"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Alison J. Barker",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9103-9258"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Radim Šumbera",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8658-9378"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Markus Knaden",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6710-1071"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Sophie Pezet",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3305-3315"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        13
      ],
      "name": "Andrew Woehler",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5157-9313"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Bill S. Hansson",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4811-1223"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        14
      ],
      "name": "Nigel C. Bennett",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9748-2947"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        15,
        16,
        17
      ],
      "name": "Gary R. Lewin",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2890-6352"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4q75vzkma5atn.bib",
  "cited_by": 9,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41586-026-10772-5",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "4q75vzkma5atn",
  "issns": [
    "0028-0836",
    "1476-4687"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10772-5",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
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      "1105|Animal Behavior and Reproduction"
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  "openalex": "W7168376544",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13468116",
  "pmid": "42457958",
  "published": "2026-07-15",
  "publisher": "Nature Portfolio",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4q75vzkma5atn.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:26:50Z",
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10772-5"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:1105|Animal Behavior and Reproduction",
      "subfield": "ecology"
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  ],
  "title": "A queen odour mediates reproductive suppression in a eusocial mammal",
  "title_text": "A queen odour mediates reproductive suppression in a eusocial mammal",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T13:21:08Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4q75vzkma5atn",
  "venue": "Nature",
  "versions": []
}