This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Why do some ants help nestmates in distress while others don't? A research team from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and Tel Aviv University addressed this question in a new study.
The researchers examined worker ants of the species Cataglyphis niger, some of which had shown rescue behavior while others had not. The results, recently published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, suggest that the key difference lies not in body size, morphology or the animals' energy reserves, but in gene activity in the nervous system. "Our study shows that, in ants, the willingness to help is linked to measurable differences in gene activity," said Professor Susanne Foitzik of the Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution at JGU.
"This is exciting because rescue behavior has long been associated primarily with mammals, while this type of behavior has evolved independently in ants." To investigate what distinguishes helping from non-helping ant workers, the researchers recreated a distress situation in the laboratory. A worker ant was restrained on the floor of a sand-lined test chamber. Individual ants from the same colony were then released into the chamber.
The researchers recorded the animals' behavior over 15 minutes. Ants were classified as rescuers if they approached the restrained nestmate and pulled at it or dug around it. Worker ants of this species show similar behavior when attempting to free buried nestmates.
The team classified ants as non-helpers if they approached the restrained nestmate but did not attempt to free it. In the next step, the researchers analyzed whether these behavioral differences were also reflected biologically. To do so, they examined the antennae and various brain regions of ants that had previously been observed, including the optic lobes and central brain regions.
The team focused particularly on the so-called mushroom bodies, central processing centers in the insect brain that integrate sensory information and are involved in learning and behavioral control. From these tissues, the team isolated RNA molecules, which provide information about which genes are active in the respective cells. Using RNA sequencing, the researchers then compared gene activity in rescuing and non-rescuing worker ants.
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