"Cell": How easy is it to transform from a "workman" to a "queen"?

Like humans, ants are social animals

The ants have a clear division of labor in the group, and each perform its own duties

The rank of ants is often determined at the stage of larval development

▲A scythe ant opened its jaws to show its fierceness (picture source: reference [2]; Credit: Karl Glastad /Berger Lab, CC BY-SA)

Although the change in behavior is huge, the switch that regulates this complex transition is surprisingly simple—just a single protein "turns on" and "turns off" different genes in the brain

The concentration of two hormones in the body of the transformed ant has changed greatly, namely, juvenile hormone (JH) and ecdysone (E).

Interestingly, scientists have discovered that these hormones also cause changes in the nerve cells of ants

▲In vitro culture of ant neurons (picture source: reference [1])

Experimental results show that at different levels, there are more than 2000 genes in ant neurons that have different activation patterns.

▲Study diagram: A switch allows the ant's brain to change from one gene expression mode to another, and social hierarchy and corresponding behaviors also change (picture source: reference [1])

This discovery also allows us to have a deeper understanding of the plasticity of the brain: in ants, the genome contains a variety of behavior patterns, and the regulation of one molecule may have a significant impact on the behavior of ants; it is more complex than ants.

Note: The original text has been deleted

Reference materials:

[1] Kr-h1 maintains distinct caste-specific neurotranscriptomes in response to socially regulated hormones.

[2] Single molecule controls unusual ants' switch from worker to queen-like status.