Elucidation of the thermotolerant mechanism of silver ants for metabolic homeostasis

Research Project

Project/Area Number	18K19326
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Medium-sized Section 44:Biology at cellular to organismal levels, and related fields
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	Obata Fumiaki 東京大学, 大学院薬学系研究科(薬学部), 講師 (40748539)
Project Period (FY)	2018-06-29 – 2020-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
Budget Amount *help	¥6,240,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,440,000) Fiscal Year 2019: ¥3,120,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥720,000) Fiscal Year 2018: ¥3,120,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥720,000)
Keywords	Cataglyphis / 熱耐性 / アリ / ショウジョウバエ / 代謝物 / Camponotus / Formica / Drosophila / 代謝 / 砂漠アリ
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This study confirmed that a thermotolerant desert ant Cataglyphis bombycina survived more than ten minutes on a hotplate with 70 degree celcius in laboratory condition. The survivability was strikingly different from other non-thermotolerant indigenous species, such as Cammponotus japonicas and Formica japonica tested in the same condition. We then performed metabolome analysis to quantify the metabolite levels during heat treatment. This identified several metabolites up- or down-regulated under high temperature in C. bombycina. It also showed the ant species had stable metabolome compared to the other non-thermotolerant species.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	本研究により、高温耐性を有する砂漠アリの特徴的な恒常性を測ることにより、代謝恒常性に根ざした生理学的な知見を得る事が出来た。代謝分析を通して、分子レベルでの熱応答を記述した事で、高い熱耐性を可能とする機構について新たな知見を得る事が出来た。これらを熱耐性を有しないアリ複数種と比較することにより、進化学的にも比較生理学的にも重要な知見を得る事が出来た。今後の解析により、さらに分子機構を明らかにする事で、未知の代謝恒常性機構や生物の生存戦略について理解する事が可能となる。