Brain Transcriptomic Changes Associated With the Socially Regulated Behavioural Specialisation of Ant Queens
- 1Insect Biology Research Institute, UMR 7261, CNRS, University of Tours, Tours, France.
- 2Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.
Abstract
Insect societies are characterised by a reproductive division of labour between queens that monopolise egg production and workers that perform all non-reproductive tasks. The queen specialisation in egg laying is typically considered to be constitutive and independent of environmental conditions, but this common assumption was recently challenged by the finding that the presence of workers both induces and maintains the queen specialisation in several species of ants. However, the molecular changes that translate worker presence into queen behavioural specialisation remain unknown. To investigate the transcriptomic basis of the socially regulated specialisation of ant queens, we produced 93 individual brain transcriptomes from queens of the black garden ant Lasius niger that were experimentally maintained in different social environments. Our transcriptomic analyses revealed that 123 genes were differentially expressed between the brains of queens maintained with and without workers. These genes were enriched for processes related to brain energy metabolism and neuronal plasticity and signalling. By investigating the response of selected genes of interest to further manipulations of the social environment, we identified four candidate genes that fully mirrored the queen behavioural changes. Specifically, their expression changes in response to worker presence were reversible and they did not respond to mere cues of the worker presence. These candidate genes included the transcription factor Krüppel-homologue 1 and other genes in the juvenile hormone and insulin signalling pathways, both known to regulate multiple aspects of division of labour in social insects. By producing a robust, well-replicated and well-controlled investigation of the transcriptomic basis of the behavioural specialisation of ant queens, this study provides a better understanding of the emergence and maintenance of reproductive division of labour in insect societies.
Related
- Cross-stress transcriptomic integration in Marchantia polymorpha reveals stress-specific expression of regulated cell-death-associated genes
- Genomic signatures of positive selection and relaxed selective constraints associated with convergent dietary specialisation
- Gonadal remodelling in socially driven sex change is associated with novel and known sex genes, epigenetic reprogramming, and inflammation-mediated apoptosis.
- Reelin doses normalizing behavioural alterations induced by repeated corticosterone avoid eliciting neuroinflammation-associated morphology in hippocampal microglia
- An in vivo resource of age-regulated C. elegans intestinal secretory-pathway proteins highlights secreted enzymes associated with lifespan regulation
BibTeX
@article{lay2026brain,
title = {{Brain Transcriptomic Changes Associated With the Socially Regulated Behavioural Specialisation of Ant Queens}},
author = {Hugo E Le Lay and Maximilian F Bolder and Thomas J Colgan and Romain Libbrecht},
journal = {Molecular Ecology},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1111/mec.70614},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05849763v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Brain Transcriptomic Changes Associated With the Socially Regulated Behavioural Specialisation of Ant Queens
AU - Hugo E Le Lay
AU - Maximilian F Bolder
AU - Thomas J Colgan
AU - Romain Libbrecht
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/01
JO - Molecular Ecology
DO - 10.1111/mec.70614
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05849763v1
AB - Insect societies are characterised by a reproductive division of labour between queens that monopolise egg production and workers that perform all non-reproductive tasks. The queen specialisation in egg laying is typically considered to be constitutive and independent of environmental conditions, but this common assumption was recently challenged by the finding that the presence of workers both induces and maintains the queen specialisation in several species of ants. However, the molecular changes that translate worker presence into queen behavioural specialisation remain unknown. To investigate the transcriptomic basis of the socially regulated specialisation of ant queens, we produced 93 individual brain transcriptomes from queens of the black garden ant Lasius niger that were experimentally maintained in different social environments. Our transcriptomic analyses revealed that 123 genes were differentially expressed between the brains of queens maintained with and without workers. These genes were enriched for processes related to brain energy metabolism and neuronal plasticity and signalling. By investigating the response of selected genes of interest to further manipulations of the social environment, we identified four candidate genes that fully mirrored the queen behavioural changes. Specifically, their expression changes in response to worker presence were reversible and they did not respond to mere cues of the worker presence. These candidate genes included the transcription factor Krüppel-homologue 1 and other genes in the juvenile hormone and insulin signalling pathways, both known to regulate multiple aspects of division of labour in social insects. By producing a robust, well-replicated and well-controlled investigation of the transcriptomic basis of the behavioural specialisation of ant queens, this study provides a better understanding of the emergence and maintenance of reproductive division of labour in insect societies.
SN - 0962-1083
SN - 1365-294X
ER -