The neural mechanism of the division of ants society is revealed

The neural mechanism of the division of ants society is revealed

【Technological frontier】

Our newspaper, Beijing, June 16 (Reporter Zhang Lei and Zhang Xiaohua) Chinese scientists reveal the social division of labor and showing the degree of behavior difference between the social divisions of different individuals of ants by constructing the multi -level cell transcription group diagram of the old ants. related. This study has obtained the four full -class single -cell transcription data covering the French ants, virgin breeding ants, male ants, and queen -after -grade brains. It is the first single cell in the world to cover all the divided characters in Ant society in the world. Grade. Related research results were published on the 16th in an authoritative academic journal "Nature · Ecology and Evolution".

"The body cells of the same individual have the same genetic material, and different body cells have different functions. This is the result of different cell transcriptions of different cells. By sequencing and analyzing different cell transcription, the function of these cells can be determined. "Speaking of the neural regulation mechanism of the division of labor in ant colony, Li Qiye, the first author of the thesis and a researcher at the Shenzhen Huada Life Science Research Institute.

Studies have shown that mushroom body responsible for advanced cognitive functions and cells responsible for processing odor information are extremely abundant in the workers 'ants, which means that workers' ants tend to perceive and handle complex information, and have flexible behavior strategies; The composition trend is opposite to the workers' ants. The abundance of the chloroplast cells is very abundant, and the olfactory leaves and mushrooms are relatively underdeveloped, which is related to the behavior of only the duties of mating and not participating in other jobs of the ant nest. The shape of the brain means that they have a relatively comprehensive behavior mode. Studies also found that during the process of virgin breeding ants, the abundance of visual leaf cell groups decreased, which is related to the long -term adaptation of the dark nest environment in the queen; Increased, the abundance of collagen cells with neurological function also increased significantly. Liu Weiwei, author of the common communication author and associate researcher at the Institute of Animal Research of the Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced, which reveals the neurological mechanism of regulating physiology and behavior in the process of queen queen. The transformation of its responsibilities and the extreme extension of life. "

The study also compared the composition of the brain cell group and its functional characteristics of French ants, Indian ants, bees and fruit flies. "Although there have been hundreds of millions of years in the history of evolution, there are still many types of cells in the brain of ants and fruit flies to maintain the same molecular characteristics and exercise similar functions." Zhang Guojie, the author of the paper and professor of the Life Evolution Research Center of Zhejiang University.

【Edit: Wang Yu】

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