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Facing lethal temperatures: Heat-shock response in desert and temperate ants
Natalia de Souza Araujo1, Rémy Perez1, Quentin Willot1,2
1Department of Evolutionary Biology & Ecology Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels Belgium.
Ecology and Evolution
|September 18, 2023
Summary
Desert ants exhibit remarkable heat adaptation through either a constitutive or reactive gene expression response, showing fewer transcriptional changes under heat stress compared to temperate ants. This highlights evolved strategies for survival in extreme environments.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Biology
- Environmental Physiology
- Genomics
Background:
- Global climate change poses significant challenges to species adaptation, especially for ectotherms vulnerable to heat failure.
- Desert ants have evolved to survive extreme high temperatures, suggesting unique physiological and genetic adaptations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the thermal tolerance and transcriptomic heat stress response in desert ant genera (Cataglyphis, Melophorus, Ocymyrmex) and compare them with temperate ant genera (Formica, Myrmica).
- To explore convergent and specific adaptive mechanisms in ants facing thermal stress.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of thermal tolerance and survival rates under heat stress.
- Transcriptomic sequencing to examine gene expression patterns in response to heat stress across different ant species.
- Identification of differentially expressed genes and analysis of response mechanisms (reactive vs. constitutive).
Main Results:
- Desert ants displayed either reactive or constitutive heat stress responses, with minimal transcriptional alterations (0.12%-1.53% of transcriptome).
- Specific desert ant species (Cataglyphis holgerseni, Melophorus bagoti) showed very few transcriptomic changes, while others (Cataglyphis bombycina, Ocymyrmex robustior) showed moderate changes.
- Temperate ants (Formica fusca, Myrmica sabuleti) exhibited significantly larger transcriptomic responses to heat stress (8%-12.71% of transcriptome).
Conclusions:
- Heat adaptation in desert ants involves altered gene expression responses, characterized by reduced transcriptional alterations compared to temperate species.
- The observed reactive and constitutive response mechanisms are linked to thermal tolerance and have convergently evolved in desert ants.
- These findings reveal distinct strategies for coping with high temperatures at the molecular level in thermophilic ants.
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