Transcriptomic Signature of Spatial Navigation in Brains of Desert Ants.

Navigation is crucial for central-place foragers to locate food and return to the nest. 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 .

Late-life fitness gains and reproductive death in ants.

A key hypothesis for the occurrence of senescence is the decrease in selection strength due to the decrease in the proportion of newborns from parents attaining an advanced age - the so-called selection shadow. Strikingly, queens of social insects have long lifespans and reproductive senescence seems to be negligible. By lifelong tracking of 99 (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) ant colonies, we find that queens shift to the production of sexuals in late life regardless of their absolute lifespan or the number of workers present.

Gene Coexpression Network Reveals Highly Conserved, Well-Regulated Anti-Ageing Mechanisms in Old Ant Queens.

Evolutionary theories of ageing predict a reduction in selection efficiency with age, a so-called "selection shadow," due to extrinsic mortality decreasing effective population size with age. Classic symptoms of ageing include a deterioration in transcriptional regulation and protein homeostasis. Understanding how ant queens defy the trade-off between fecundity and lifespan remains a major challenge for the evolutionary theory of ageing.