Gene Expression Associated With Behaviour Manipulation in Wood Ants Infected With Larval Lancet Fluke, Dicrocoelium dendriticum.

ABSTRACT: Many ant species show dramatic shifts in behaviour when infected with parasites, but the molecular basis of these behavioural changes is not well understood. An example is the wood ant, Formica aserva, which serves as an intermediate host for the lancet liver fluke, Dicrocoelium dendriticum. Infected ants leave their nests during the cool hours of the day, ascend a flower and then attach themselves to a petal with their mandibles. Attached ants remain affixed to an inflorescence overnight, after which they detach, descend the plant and return to their nest. Unless eaten by a grazing mammal (the obligate next host), infected ants repeat this attach-and-detach cycle for the rest of the summer. We used transcriptomics to decipher the potential molecular mechanisms that underlie this reversibl

SUBMITTER: Li CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12530281 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature