Autoren:	Stoldt, Marah Collin, Erwann Macit, Maide Nesibe Foitzik, Susanne
Titel:	Brain and antennal transcriptomes of host ants reveal potential links between behaviour and the functioning of socially parasitic colonies
Online-Publikationsdatum:	11-Sep-2023
Erscheinungsdatum:	2023
Sprache des Dokuments:	Englisch
Zusammenfassung/Abstract:	Insect social parasites are characterized by exploiting the hosts' social behaviour. Why exactly hosts direct their caring behaviour towards these parasites and their offspring remains largely unstudied. One hypothesis is that hosts do not perceive their social environment as altered and accept the parasitic colony as their own. We used the ant Leptothorax acervorum, host of the dulotic, obligate social parasite Harpagoxenus sublaevis, to shed light on molecular mechanisms underlying behavioural exploitation by contrasting tissue-specific transcriptomes in young host workers. Host pupae were experimentally (re-)introduced into fragments of their original, another conspecific, heterospecific or parasitic colony. Brain and antennal mRNA was extracted and sequenced from adult ants after they had lived in the experimental colony for at least 50 days after eclosion. The resulting transcriptomes of L. acervorum revealed that ants were indeed affected by their social environment. Host brain transcriptomes were altered by the presence of social parasites, suggesting that the parasitic environment influences brain activity, which may be linked to behavioural changes. Transcriptional activity in the antennae changed most with the presence of unrelated individuals, regardless of whether they were conspecifics or parasites. This suggests early priming of odour perception, which was further supported by sensory perception of odour as an enriched function of differentially expressed genes. Furthermore, gene expression in the antennae, but not in the brain corresponded to ant worker behaviour before sampling. Our study demonstrated that the exploitation of social behaviours by brood parasites correlates with transcriptomic alterations in the central and peripheral nervous systems.
DDC-Sachgruppe:	570 Biowissenschaften 570 Life sciences
Veröffentlichende Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Organisationseinheit:	FB 10 Biologie
Veröffentlichungsort:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-9505
Version:	Published version
Publikationstyp:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Nutzungsrechte:	CC BY
Informationen zu den Nutzungsrechten:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Zeitschrift:	Molecular ecology 32 18
Seitenzahl oder Artikelnummer:	5170 5185
Verlag:	Wiley-Blackwell
Verlagsort:	Oxford u.a
Erscheinungsdatum:	2023
ISSN:	1365-294X
DOI der Originalveröffentlichung:	10.1111/mec.17092
Enthalten in den Sammlungen:	DFG-491381577-H