Gene expression analyses of an ant host and cestode parasite shed light on parasite-induced changes and parasite metabolism

Parasites with complex life cycles often evolve strategies to facilitate transmission to the definite host by manipulating their intermediate host. Such manipulations could explain phenotypic changes in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi, the intermediate host of the cestode Anomotaenia brevis. Next to behavioral and morphological alterations, infected workers exhibit increased survival, comparable to that of queens, which live up to two decades. Using transcriptomic data of abdomens from ants of different castes and infection status, we investigated the basis of phenotypic alterations in infected workers, and whether the extended lifespan of queens and infected workers has a common molecular basis.