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RESEARCH PRODUCT
A Role of Histone Acetylation in the Regulation of Circadian Rhythm in Ants
Susanne FoitzikDennis NadrauRomain Libbrechtsubject
0301 basic medicinemedia_common.quotation_subject02 engineering and technologyInsectBiologyArticle03 medical and health sciencesGene expressionEpigeneticsCircadian rhythmlcsh:ScienceOscillating geneMolecular Biologymedia_commonHistone AcetyltransferasesMultidisciplinaryfungi021001 nanoscience & nanotechnologyANTCell biology030104 developmental biologyHistoneAcetylationbiology.proteinlcsh:QMolecular Mechanism of Behavior0210 nano-technologyEntomologydescription
Summary In many organisms, circadian rhythms and associated oscillations in gene expression are controlled by post-translational modifications of histone proteins. Although epigenetic mechanisms influence key aspects of insect societies, their implication in regulating circadian rhythms has not been studied in social insects. Here we ask whether histone acetylation plays a role in adjusting circadian activity in the ant Temnothorax longispinosus. We characterized activity patterns in 20 colonies to reveal that these ants exhibit a diurnal rhythm in colony-level activity and can rapidly respond to changes in the light regime. Then we fed T. longispinosus colonies with C646, a chemical inhibitor of histone acetyltransferases, to show that treated colonies lost their circadian rhythmicity and failed to adjust their activity to the light regime. These findings suggest a role for histone acetylation in controlling rhythmicity in ants and implicate epigenetic processes in the regulation of circadian rhythms in a social context.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-02-01 | iScience |