Hymenopteran-specific TRPA channel from the Texas leaf cutter ant (Atta texana) is heat and cold activated and expression correlates with environmental temperature.

Publisher: Blackwell Pub Country of Publication: Australia NLM ID: 101266965 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1744-7917 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 16729609 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Insect Sci Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Victoria, Australia : Blackwell Pub., c2005-

Ants*/genetics ; Ants*/physiology ; Ants*/metabolism ; Transient Receptor Potential Channels*/metabolism ; Transient Receptor Potential Channels*/genetics ; Insect Proteins*/metabolism ; Insect Proteins*/genetics; Animals ; Hot Temperature ; Cold Temperature ; Texas ; Arthropod Antennae/metabolism ; Thermosensing ; Temperature

Leaf cutting ants of the genus Atta cultivate fungal gardens, carefully modifying environmental conditions to maintain optimal temperature for fungal growth. Antennal nerves from Atta are highly temperature sensitive, but the underlying molecular sensor is unknown. Here, we utilize Atta texana (Texas leaf cutter ant) to investigate the molecular basis of ant temperature sensation and how it might have evolved as the range expanded northeast across Texas from ancestral populations in Mexico. We focus on transient receptor potential (TRP) channel genes, the best characterized temperature sensor proteins in animals. Atta texana antennae express 6 of 13 Hymenopteran TRP channel genes and sequences are under a mix of relaxed and intensified selection. In a behavioral assay, we find A. texana workers prefer 24 °C (range 21-26 °C) for fungal growth. There was no evidence of regulatory evolution across a temperature transect in Texas, but instead Hymenoptera-specific TRPA (HsTRPA) expression highly correlated with ambient temperature. When expressed in vitro, HsTRPA from A. texana is temperature activated with Q10 values exceeding 100 on initial exposure to temperatures above 33 °C. Surprisingly, HsTRPA also appears to be activated by cooling, and therefore to our knowledge, the first non-TRPA1 ortholog to be described with dual heat/cold activation and the first in any invertebrate.
(© 2023 The Authors. Insect Science published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.)

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Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas; EcoLabs; Stengl Wyer Endowment

Keywords: TRP channels; electrophysiology; evolution; invertebrate; leaf cutter ants; temperature

0 (Transient Receptor Potential Channels)
0 (Insect Proteins)

Date Created: 20240411 Date Completed: 20250422 Latest Revision: 20250422

20250423

PMC11824891

10.1111/1744-7917.13364

38605428