Gutenberg Open Science: Brain and antennal transcriptomes of host ants reveal potential links between behaviour and the functioning of socially parasitic colonies

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-9505

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DC Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Stoldt, Marah	-
dc.contributor.author	Collin, Erwann	-
dc.contributor.author	Macit, Maide Nesibe	-
dc.contributor.author	Foitzik, Susanne	-
dc.date.accessioned	2023-09-11T09:30:30Z	-
dc.date.available	2023-09-11T09:30:30Z	-
dc.date.issued	2023	-
dc.identifier.uri	https://openscience.ub.uni-mainz.de/handle/20.500.12030/9523	-
dc.description.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.	en_GB
dc.description.sponsorship	Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)\|491381577\|Open-Access-Publikationskosten 2022–2024 Universität Mainz - Universitätsmedizin	-
dc.language.iso	eng	de
dc.rights	CC BY	*
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	*
dc.subject.ddc	570 Biowissenschaften	de_DE
dc.subject.ddc	570 Life sciences	en_GB
dc.title	Brain and antennal transcriptomes of host ants reveal potential links between behaviour and the functioning of socially parasitic colonies	en_GB
dc.type	Zeitschriftenaufsatz	de
dc.identifier.doi	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-9505	-
jgu.type.dinitype	article	en_GB
jgu.type.version	Published version	de
jgu.type.resource	Text	de
jgu.organisation.department	FB 10 Biologie	de
jgu.organisation.number	7970	-
jgu.organisation.name	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz	-
jgu.rights.accessrights	openAccess	-
jgu.journal.title	Molecular ecology	de
jgu.journal.volume	32	de
jgu.journal.issue	18	de
jgu.pages.start	5170	de
jgu.pages.end	5185	de
jgu.publisher.year	2023	-
jgu.publisher.name	Wiley-Blackwell	de
jgu.publisher.place	Oxford u.a	de
jgu.publisher.issn	1365-294X	de
jgu.organisation.place	Mainz	-
jgu.subject.ddccode	570	de
jgu.publisher.doi	10.1111/mec.17092	de
jgu.organisation.ror	https://ror.org/023b0x485	-
Appears in collections:	DFG-491381577-H

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