Insulin-resistant protein linked to longevity and reproduction in ants

The study, published in the journal Science, shows that when queen ants do not experience aging, they produce an anti-insulin protein that blocks only part of the insulin pathway that causes aging, thereby exhibiting greater High reproductive and metabolic capacity

In many animals, many offspring are associated with shorter lifespans

Insulin — a hormone that helps convert food into energy — plays an important role in metabolism, but also in the aging process

In the trade-off between reproduction and longevity, ants are a notable exception, because their queens -- responsible for the reproduction of the entire colony -- live longer than workers with the same genome

When Harpegnathos' queens die in their nests, a strange thing happens: Female workers use their antennae to duel each other for the next queen

"By performing a reversible 'caste switch' from worker ants to pseudoqueens, resulting in a dramatic increase in lifespan and reproductive capacity, Harpegnathos ant offers a unique opportunity to study how aging and reproduction are disconnected," said the study's senior said co-author Claude Desplan, the NYU Silver Professor of Biology and Neuroscience

Using bulk RNA sequencing, the researchers studied tissue samples from worker ants and pseudoqueens, focusing on parts of the ants involved in metabolism and reproduction, including the brain, fat body (the insect's liver) and ovary

An increase in insulin in the pseudoqueen induces ovarian development, which then begins to produce an insulin-suppressing protein called Impl-L2

"Two major branches of the insulin signaling pathway appear to regulate fertility and lifespan to varying degrees, with an increase in one signaling pathway contributing to reproduction in pseudoqueens, while a decrease in the other is consistent with increased lifespan in pseudoqueens, said the study's senior co-author Danny Reinberg, the Terry and Mel Karmasin Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Research Fellow.

"Such interactions that have evolved in ants and other insects may have the potential to contribute to the Helps to reproduce ants' unusual longevity and many offspring

"Our work also illustrates the importance of using appropriate model systems to ask fundamental biological questions

Journal Reference:

1. Hua Yan, Comzit Opachaloemphan, Francisco Carmona-Aldana, Giacomo Mancini, Jakub Mlejnek, Nicolas Descostes, Bogdan Sieriebriennikov, Alexandra Leibholz, Xiaofan Zhou, Long Ding, Maria Traficante, Claude Desplan, Danny Reinberg.