Born to Rule? Slavemaker Ants Have Attack Genes
Certain ants attack and enslave other species, and integrate their offspring into their own colonies in order to survive.
Copyright: Barbara Feldmeyer
“Our experiments show that the combat strategies of Temnothorax americanus and its relatives, Temnothorax dulocticus and Temnothorax pilagens, are basically very similar. However, the details of the attacks differ from species to species,” explains Dr. Barbara Feldmeyer of the Senckenberg Research Center for Biodiversity and Climate, and she adds, “During the raid the differences in the tuning of individual genes become particularly apparent.”
This, together with other findings, suggests, that in the slave-raiding ants differences in gene expressions, i.e., the reading of the gene sequence and the transcription into proteins, is solely geared toward the raid. Similar patterns were also discovered in the potential slaves, which showed different, genetically based defense patterns.
Figuratively speaking, different gene expression means that that in the genetic material of the three ant species, certain buttons are pressed at different levels of intensity – yet, ultimately, this leads to the same result in all species: a successful raid. The team was surprised by these findings, since for closely related, genetically similar species it was assumed that they would all follow similar genetic paths to achieve a specific goal.
Despite their differences, the three slave-holding Temnothorax species appear to share two genes that are important for the raids. “Acyl-CoA Delta (11) Desaturase causes the attackers to emit chemical scents during the raid. These scents mask the attackers, thereby increasing the chances for a successful raid. On the other hand, the gene Trypsin-7 appears to affect the recognition potential, thus enabling – at least in part – the identification of the host colonies required for a raid,” adds Feldmeyer in summary.
Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum
Citation: Alleman, A., Feldmeyer, B. and Foitzik, S. (2018): Comparative analyses of co-evolving host-parasite associations reveal unique gene expression patterns underlying slavemaker raiding and host defensive phenotypes. Scientific Reports, doi:10.1038/s41598-018-20262-y
Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/2018/03/born-to-rule-slavemaker-ants-have.html
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