Brain and antennal transcriptomes of Leptothorax acervorum ants in different social environments

We studied the transcriptomic response of L. acervorum host workers that emerged inside nests of the social parasite H. sublaevis to shed light on the mechanisms underlying the social behaviour of host workers in parasitic nests. We investigated changes in brain gene expression, which serves as a proxy for behavioural alterations as well as antennal gene expression, which is linked to recognition abilities in ants. By transferring workers as pupae to parasitic nests - as would happen in nature during raids - we rule out any transcriptional changes during larval development in a different environment and focus on changes during the first weeks of adult life as workers. Using these transcriptomes we analysed which genes change their activity to conclude the molecular regulation of the observed behaviour and the sensory system in the context of social parasitism.