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ViewAttendees 2

Member Symposium

Tools for Transgenics and Genome Editing in Emerging Models for Insect Functional Genomics

Neurogenetic tools in the clonal raider ant for mapping pheromone encoding

Tuesday, November 7, 2023
3:05 PM – 3:25 PM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Chesapeake G-H
In-Person
Within ant colonies, social organization is mediated by arrays of pheromones. Ants possess commensurately elaborate chemosensory systems, including hundreds of odorant receptor genes and similar numbers of antennal lobe glomeruli. The complexity of these sensory systems presents an enormous challenge for matching pheromone stimuli to functional units of the nervous system using commonly available methods, such as recordings from single neurons or sensilla, or calcium imaging using fluorescent dyes. To circumvent these limitations, we developed an efficient piggyBac-based transgenesis method in a genetically tractable species, the clonal raider ant, and generated a transgenic line expressing GCaMP6s specifically in olfactory sensory neurons. We then used volumetric two-photon microscopy to map calcium responses generated by alarm pheromone stimuli across the entire antennal lobe. We found that alarm pheromone encoding is spatially stereotyped and surprisingly sparse, with robust responses occurring in no more than 6 glomeruli out of ~500 in total. Three of the pheromone stimuli elicited panic behavior in a colony bioassay, and glomerular response maps from these pheromones converged on a single glomerulus, which might function as a sensory hub for mediating panic alarm behavior.