Positive Eusocial Impacts on Ants by Taurine Derivatives

Abstract

The present study is to investigate potential eusocial effects on ants from treatment of taurine or its derivatives: galactose-taurine (GT) or xylose-taurine (XT). Japanese carpenter ants (Camponotus japonicus) were maintained on taurine-supplemented diets, and their performance was evaluated according to arbitrary eusocial indexes. Four classes of criteria were employed: establishment of residence chambers, survival at severe conditions, cooperative defense index (CDI), and population size. Taurine or its derivatives were administered orally in 0.1 mM sucrose solution. When fed with taurine or taurine derivatives, ants built more chambers than the non-fed control. Among the taurine groups, the XT-fed group showed the highest number of chambers. Differences in survivorship were obvious between the control and taurine-fed groups at the extreme conditions of light exposure and high temperature. More ants survived when fed with taurine or its derivatives. The taurine-supplemented groups took less time to organize a defense form than the control. The XT-fed group showed a high level of CDI which refer to the willingness to participate in defense against a foreign queen. The taurine-fed group sustained higher total numbers of ants. The XT-fed groups showed a 15% increase in the number of workers and an 11% increase in the number of eggs. The taurine-fed ants positively responded according to the eusocial vitality indexes, especially when fed with XT. In summary, these results show that ants respond more like superorganisms when treated with XT among taurine or its two derivatives.