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SUMMARY:Differentiation\, Communication\, and Collective Behavior in Ant S
 ocieties - Daniel Kronauer (The Rockefeller University)
DTSTART:20220222T130000Z
DTEND:20220222T140000Z
UID:TALK168809@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Emília Santos
DESCRIPTION:My research program is built around a carefully chosen\, uncon
 ventional model system\, the clonal raider ant Ooceraea biroi. This specie
 s combines the rich biology of social insects with unprecedented experimen
 tal control\, allowing us to work with large numbers of colonies and isoge
 nic strains that can be genetically engineered. We focus on a set of inter
 related and complementary questions that are not easily accessible in “c
 lassical” model organisms. First\, we want to understand the genetic\, e
 pigenetic\, and neural mechanisms that underlie the differentiation of ant
 s into “castes”. In ants\, genetically identical females can develop i
 nto queens or workers that differ dramatically in morphology\, physiology\
 , behavior\, and longevity. Studying such extreme cases of phenotypic plas
 ticity can shed light on general epigenetic and developmental principles. 
 Morphologically and genetically identical workers also specialize on diffe
 rent tasks in the colony\, such as foraging or nursing\, and we want to un
 derstand the underlying mechanisms at the neuromodulatory and circuit leve
 l. This addresses the important question of how behavioral individuality a
 rises. Second\, ants are walking chemical factories and communicate with a
  dazzling array of pheromones. We study how the ant chemosensory system ha
 s evolved to perceive this chemical language at the periphery\, and how so
 cial information is processed at higher levels in the brain to generate ap
 propriate behavioral outputs. These studies provide insight into the devel
 opmental and coding logic of complex sensory systems\, as well as the neur
 obiological basis of social behavior. Third\, we ask how the manifold soci
 al interactions between morphologically and behaviorally differentiated an
 ts give rise to adaptive phenomena at the colony level\, including collect
 ive decision making\, foraging\, parental behavior\, and navigation. Combi
 ning these three major research avenues\, our overarching goal is to rever
 se engineer an insect society to obtain a comprehensive molecular and orga
 nismic understanding of how such a complex biological system works.
LOCATION:Zoom
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