Transcriptomic Signature of Spatial Navigation in Brains of Desert Ants.

ABSTRACT: Navigation is crucial for central-place foragers to locate food and return to the nest. Cataglyphis ants are renowned for their advanced navigation abilities, relying on landmark cues and path integration. This study aims to uncover the transcriptomic basis of exceptional spatial learning in the central nervous system of Cataglyphis niger. Ants navigated a maze with a food reward, and we examined expression changes linked to correct decisions in subsequent runs. Correct decisions correlated with expression changes in the optic lobes, but not the central brain, showing a downregulation of genes associated with sucrose response and Creb3l1. The latter gene is homologous to Drosophila crebA, which is essential for long-term memory formation. To understand how ants

SUBMITTER: Jaimes-Nino LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11449808 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature