Worker ants become queens and only need to regulate one molecule

The scythe ant will do something unusual: transform from a worker ant to a queen
.

Scientists have discovered that a protein called Kr-h1 can respond to social regulatory hormones to coordinate this complex social transformation
.

"Animal brains are plastic, that is, they can change their structure and function according to the environment
," said Roberto Bonasio of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

In an ant colony, worker ants maintain the colony by looking for food and resisting invaders, while the main task of the queen is to lay eggs
.

By studying ants, Bonasio and colleagues, including Shelley Berger, also from the University of Pennsylvania, wanted to understand how genes "turn on" or "off" affect brain function and behavior
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In order to study the potential molecular events leading to this conversion, a research team led by co-first authors Janko Gospocic and Karl Glastad developed a method to isolate neurons from ants and keep them alive in plastic petri dishes in the laboratory.

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These studies further confirmed that the two hormones, juvenile hormone and ecdysone, present at different levels in worker ants and queens, produced different gene activation patterns in the brains of these two ants
.

"This protein can regulate the different genes of worker ants and queens, preventing ants from making'inappropriate social' behaviors
.

"We did not expect that the same protein can silence different genes in the brains of different ants, thereby inhibiting the queen's behavior and the behavior of the worker queens
.

These findings reveal the important role that social regulatory hormones and gene regulation play in the transition of animal brains from one genetic model and social hierarchy to another
.
"The key message is that, at least in ants, multiple behavior patterns are specified in the genome at the same time, and gene regulation can have a great impact on the behavior of organisms
.
" Berger said, "In other words, every ant can play any role.
A role, depending on which gene switch is on or off
.
"

Researchers believe that the significance of this discovery may be far more profound than understanding the behavioral plasticity of ants and other insects
.
"It is easy to speculate that related proteins may have similar functions in more complex brains, including their own brains,
" Bonasio said.
"The discovery of these proteins may help us restore the plasticity of our brains someday, such as aging brains.

.
"

In addition, a single factor can inhibit different genes and behaviors in different brains.
This discovery raises an important question as to how the dual functions of this protein and other similar proteins can be regulated
.

In future studies, the researchers plan to explore the role of Kr-h1 in other organisms
.
The researchers also plan to explore how the environment affects gene regulation at the epigenetic level through the presence or absence of certain chemical markers on DNA, and how this, in turn, affects the plasticity and behavior of the brain
.
(Source: Feng Lifei, China Science News)

Related paper information: https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
cell.
2021.
10.
006