Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
German Lagunas-Robles, Jessica Purcell, Alan Brelsford
Summary: The discovery of a supergene determining split sex ratio in at least two ant species has opened up new avenues for research into the evolutionary drivers of this phenomenon.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Biology
Martina Ozan, Heikki Helantera, Patrizia d'Ettorre, Liselotte Sundstrom
Summary: Cooperative breeding in ants involves conflicts over reproductive shares, which can be resolved in different ways. This study examined how the reproductive success of queens in the ant Formica fusca is influenced by the size of their worker entourage, their fecundity, and their cuticular hydrocarbon profile. The results showed that queen fecundity and egg hatching success increased with the size of their entourage, and newly hatched larvae from highly fecund queens were smaller. Additionally, higher relatedness among workers was found to increase queen fecundity, and queens with a large worker entourage had different cuticular chemistry compared to those with a small worker entourage. These findings highlight the important role of workers in determining queen fitness and the impact of relatedness on colony reproductive output.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Barbara Casillas-Perez, Christopher D. Pull, Filip Naiser, Elisabeth Naderlinger, Jiri Matas, Sylvia Cremer
Summary: Infections early in life can have lasting effects on an organism's development and immunity, including social insect colonies. High brood rearing efforts can interfere with the queen's immune system, while early-life pathogen exposure can improve the immunocompetence of her worker offspring. Transgenerational transfer of the queen's pathogen experience can reduce the disease susceptibility of the entire superorganism.
Article
Biology
Matteo A. Negroni, Marah Stoldt, Marie Oster, Ann-Sophie Rupp, Barbara Feldmeyer, Susanne Foitzik
Summary: During the evolution of social insects, there have been significant changes in the life-history traits of queens and the importance of individual traits compared to colony-level traits. The fecundity of eusocial insects is influenced by colony size and queen number, rather than individual body size. The alternative queen morphs in ants exhibit different reproductive strategies and adaptations, with smaller queens compensating for their size with increased metabolic activity, while still showing resistance to oxidative stress.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Julia Giehr, Juergen Heinze
Summary: In many species of social insects, workers are capable of laying unfertilized eggs, leading to conflicts over male parentage. In some species, this conflict can result in queen killing. Queen expulsion and matricide in ants were observed to decrease the number of workers and brood, but increase male production, ultimately impacting worker fitness.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Romain A. Dahan, Christian Rabeling
Summary: Social parasites exploit the brood care behavior of their hosts to raise their own offspring. They are common in eusocial Hymenoptera and exhibit a wide range of life history traits. The presence of multiple egg-laying queens may favor the origin of social parasitic behavior.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Patrizia d'Ettorre, Kazuki Tsuji
Summary: The discovery of ants harvesting nutritious fluid from pupae and feeding it to larvae reveals the importance of social feeding in colony success.
Article
Biology
Klara Dolejsova, Jan Krivanek, Jitka Stafkova, Natan Horacek, Jana Havlickova, Virginie Roy, Blanka Kalinova, Amit Roy, Pavlina Kyjakova, Robert Hanus
Summary: The specific chemical compound ((3R,6E)-nerolidol) in the higher termite Embiratermes neotenicus acts as a queen primer pheromone, suppressing the development of parthenogenetic queens, and functions as an airborne signal detected via olfaction.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nobuaki Mizumoto, Yasunari Tanaka, Gabriele Valentini, Thomas O. Richardson, Sumana Annagiri, Stephen C. Pratt, Hiroyuki Shimoji
Summary: This study used network and information-theoretic analysis to quantify the differences in tandem recruitment behavior between two ant genera, Temnothorax and Diacamma. It was found that Temnothorax uses tandem running to recruit additional recruiters, while Diacamma primarily uses it to move the passive majority of their colony. Furthermore, the information-theoretical analysis revealed that Diacamma tandem runs lack bidirectional information transfer, unlike Temnothorax which exhibits route learning.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Barbara Feldmeyer, Claudia Gstoettl, Jennifer Wallner, Evelien Jongepier, Alice Seguret, Donato A. Grasso, Erich Bornberg-Bauer, Susanne Foitzik, Jurgen Heinze
Summary: The division of labour between queen and workers is crucial for the ecological success of social Hymenoptera. Insect societies are vulnerable to social parasites, but the gene expression differences between queen and worker are conserved across various lifestyles. Caste has a stronger impact on gene expression than lifestyle, indicating a core set of genes linked to caste in this ant taxon.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sean K. McKenzie, Max E. Winston, Felix Grewe, Gabriel Vargas Asensio, Natalia Rodriguez-Hernandez, Benjamin E. R. Rubin, Catalina Murillo-Cruz, Christoph von Beeren, Corrie S. Moreau, Garret Suen, Adrian A. Pinto-Tomas, Daniel J. C. Kronauer
Summary: Mass raiding evolution has made army ants dominant predators in the tropics. The genome of New World army ant Eciton burchellii is compact with a reduced gene complement, but has an expanded gene subfamily related to hydrocarbon recognition. This modification in the chemosensory system may aid in behavioral coordination and prey selection during social predation for army ants and their relatives.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stano Pekar, Martina Martisova, Andrea Spalek Tothova, Charles R. Haddad
Summary: This study objectively measured the resemblance between arthropod mimics and ants, based on traits such as color, shape, size, and behavior. The results showed that mimics were more similar to ants in color and behavior, rather than size and body shape.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Zubair Lalani, Gillian Chu, Silas Hsu, Shaw Kagawa, Michael Xiang, Simone Zaccaria, Mohammed El-Kebir
Summary: Copy-number aberrations (CNAs) are common genetic alterations in cancer, but their identification from DNA sequencing data is challenging. Existing segmentation algorithms have limitations, so we introduce CNAViz, a web-based tool that allows the user to perform both local and global segmentation, improving the accuracy of the segmentation.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Eva Schultner, Tobias Wallner, Benjamin Dofka, Jeanne Bruelhart, Juergen Heinze, Dalial Freitak, Tamara Pokorny, Jan Oettler
Summary: In the ant species Cardiocondyla obscurior, queens have control over the allocation of queen-worker caste, as shown by the presence of crystalline deposits that distinguish castes throughout development. While size and weight differences were found in late development, there were no discernible differences in traits that may be used in social interactions. These findings, along with previous studies, suggest that queens control reproductive allocation in C. obscurior, aligning the fitness interests of colony members to optimize resource allocation.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biology
Amaranta Fontcuberta, Ornela De Gasperin, Amaury Avril, Sagane Dind, Michel Chapuisat
Summary: The study investigated the dispersal mechanisms associated with supergene-controlled alternative social forms in the ant Formica selysi, revealing significant differences in sex allocation between different social forms and shedding light on the behavioral and colony-level traits linking dispersal with sociality through supergenes.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Ophthalmology
Ranjay Chakraborty, Kip D. Lacy, Christopher C. Tan, Han Na Park, Machelle T. Pardue
EXPERIMENTAL EYE RESEARCH
(2014)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Samuel Arsenault, Joanie T. King, Sasha Kay, Kip D. Lacy, Kenneth G. Ross, Brendan G. Hunt
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Waring Trible, Vikram Chandra, Kip D. Lacy, Gina Limon, Sean K. McKenzie, Leonora Olivos-Cisneros, Samuel V. Arsenault, Daniel J. C. Kronauer
Summary: Most ant species have queens and workers, yet the mechanisms behind the developmental and genetic differences between these castes are not well understood. A study on a clonal ant discovered a variant strain that shows queen-like traits in individuals that would normally become workers. These variants rely on workers in wild-type colonies for survival and resemble obligately parasitic ants. This finding provides new insights into the evolution of ant social parasites and the molecular mechanisms of caste differentiation.
Meeting Abstract
Ophthalmology
Christopher Tan, Han Na Park, Jacob Light, Kip Lacy, Machelle Pardue
INVESTIGATIVE OPHTHALMOLOGY & VISUAL SCIENCE
(2013)