2023-10-16 11:00:04
The complex hierarchy of ants might be partly regulated by a blood-brain barrier specific to these insects. This is indicated by a new study which sheds light on the molecular mechanisms governing their social behavior.
An enzyme controls the access of a hormone (A hormone is a chemical messenger carried by the circulatory system which acts.. .) to the brain of the worker ant, transforming it into a forager.
Image d’illustration Pixabay
In an ant colony, each individual has a specific role. While the queen lays eggs, the workers go in search of food or protect the nest. Their behavior is dictated by hormones, including one known as “juvenile hormone.” However, the regulatory mechanisms of these hormones remained unknown until now.
The blood-brain barrier (BBB), which filters substances entering the brain, would play a role in this regulation. Published September 7 in the journal Cell, the study shows that the BBB of ants modulates the levels of hormones entering their brains, thereby influencing their role within the colony.
Researchers examined behavioral differences between worker and soldier ants in Florida carpenter ants (Camponotus floridanus). They discovered that an enzyme, juvenile hormone esterase, is present only in the cells constituting the BBB of ants.
Image d’illustration Pixabay
The study reveals that soldier ants have higher levels of this enzyme, thus limiting the hormone’s access to their brains. By injecting the juvenile hormone directly into the brains of soldier ants, the researchers observed a change in behavior: the ants became foragers.
Karl Glastad, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, notes that the results were “surprising.” Daniel Kronauer, an evolutionary biologist at Rockefeller University, sees these findings as a possibility of similar mechanisms in mammals, although more work is needed.
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