Ants: The Next Great Biodetectors?
A small, darkly-colored Formica fusca ant sits on a green leaf.
Have you ever been amazed by a dog’s incredible sense of smell? Probably…but how about an ant’s? A recent study from Sorbonne Paris North University found that the common ant species Formica fusca learned to differentiate specific olfactory cues rapidly, and succeeded in detecting urine samples from mice that received a graft of human breast cancer tissue. Chemical analysis of the mouse urine used in this study revealed a difference in odor between the cancerous and non-cancerous mice. The ants spent about 20% longer around cancerous mice's urine samples than noncancerous mice, demonstrating an ant’s capacity to detect tumor biomarkers. The memory and behavioral tests performed on the ants took place over a mere three conditioning trials, wherein the ants were given a food reward after exposure to the urine of mice containing cancerous tumor tissue. A minimum of 24 ants would be needed in order to measure a significant difference between samples, and the total amount of time necessary to condition and test these ants would be about 15 hours, although the ants will begin to show discriminatory capability after around 37 minutes. The ants exhibit extensive memory of the conditioned behavior, successfully completing the olfactory tests approximately 9 times without a reward before their responses begin declining.The findings of this study herald in another direction for the future of novel cancer biodetection, as the usage of ants in this capacity, is notably efficient and inexpensive.
Jane Arterberry is working on her undergraduate degree in biology with a chemistry minor at Portland State University Honors College. She is a member of PSU’s eXtreme Virus Lab, a BUILD EXITO trainee, and interested in genetics and molecular biology. Her favorite things include watching live music, petting everyone’s dogs, and making academia a more inclusive place.
