Analysis of the social behavioral effects of orco odor recepor genes on ants.

A gene linked to odor recepcession has a major impact on the social behavior of ants, a new U.S. study says, and mutations in the gene can deprive them of normal communication, foraging and reproduction.
researchers believe the findings could help to delve deeper into the genetic roots of social behavior, provide ideas for studying the sociality of other animals, and even help understand diseases such as depression, autism and schizophrenia.
ants are social animals, with a clear social division of labor, complex and rich social behavior.
people have long known that ants rely on secretion and perception of information to communicate, to achieve social cooperation.
ants have odor receptors that sense a variety of information, and the brain has neurons that specialize in handling odor information.
Researchers at New York University and other institutions report in the academic journal Cell that studies of Indian jumping ants show that different odor receptors in their bodies are like a batch of "keys", with different "key teeth" in shape, and the "spoon handle" part being the same, with a gene called Orco's odor receptor responsible for encoding a common "spoon handle."
Researchers genetically modified the Indian jumping ants to mutate the gene, and found that the ants' response to odor signals was significantly weakened, making it difficult to communicate with their peers, unable to follow odor information back to their nests, often wandering out of groups and unable to forage properly.
genetic defect can also seriously affect the reproductive behavior of female ants.
In India's jumping ant population, some of the worker ants have the potential to compete for the status of the queen, usually they are suppressed by the queen's information, if the queen dies, these worker ants will use tentacles "duel", the winner to assume the responsibility of mating and spawning.
But worker ants with mutations in the Orco gene are unable to participate properly in duels, it is difficult to successfully mate with male ants, even if mating also produces fewer eggs, late in time, and rarely cares for eggs and larvae, with very low reproductive success rates.
source: Xinhua News Agency.