ArticleBMC research notes2015
Diversification of the ant odorant receptor gene family and positive selection on candidate cuticular hydrocarbon receptors.
Article in BMC research notes, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 79 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Article
- Adaptive evolution of odorant receptors is associated with elaborations of social organization in ants.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Genomes of Wiebesia Fig Wasps Reveal the Adaptation and Codiversification in the Fig-Fig Wasp Mutualism.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Pheromone-Mediated Social Organization and Pest Management of the Red Imported Fire Ant,Insects · 2026Review
- Genomic Signatures of Selection Across Climate Gradients and a Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution in an Ant Social Parasite-Host System.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Caste- and environment-associated differential expression of olfactory receptors in pest ants.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Ancestral complexity and constrained diversification of the ant olfactory system.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Evolution of odorant receptor repertoires across Hymenoptera is not linked to the evolution of eusociality.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Orco-dependent survival of odorant receptor neurons in ants.Science advances · 2024Article
- Identification of chemosensory genes in the stingless bee Tetragonisca fiebrigi.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2024Article
- Comparative transcriptomics and phylostratigraphy of Argentine ant odorant receptors.PloS one · 2024Article
- Task-specific odorant receptor expression in worker antennae indicates that sensory filters regulate division of labor in ants.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Evolution of five environmentally responsive gene families in a pine-feeding sawfly,Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Genome-Wide Analysis of the Odorant Receptor Gene Family inInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Article
- Cuticular hydrocarbon reception by sensory neurons in basiconic sensilla of the Japanese carpenter ant.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2023Article
- Article
- The Genome ofGenes · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChemical communication plays important roles in the social behavior of ants making them one of the most successful groups of animals on earth. However, the molecular evolutionary process responsible for their chemosensory adaptation is still elusive. Recent advances in genomic studies have led to the identification of large odorant receptor (Or) gene repertoires from ant genomes providing fruitful materials for molecular evolution analysis. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that diversification of this gene family is involved in olfactory adaptation of each species.
resultsWe annotated the Or genes from the genome sequences of two leaf-cutter ants, Acromyrmex echinatior and Atta cephalotes (385 and 376 putative functional genes, respectively). These were used, together with Or genes from Camponotus floridanus, Harpegnathos saltator, Pogonomyrmex barbatus, Linepithema humile, Cerapachys biroi, Solenopsis invicta and Apis mellifera, in molecular evolution analysis. Like the Or family in other insects, ant Or genes evolve by the birth-and-death model of gene family evolution. Large gene family expansions involving tandem gene duplications, and gene gains outnumbering losses, are observed. Codon analysis of genes in lineage-specific expansion clades revealed signatures of positive selection on the candidate cuticular hydrocarbon receptor genes (9-exon subfamily) of Cerapachys biroi, Camponotus floridanus, Acromyrmex echinatior and Atta cephalotes. Positively selected amino acid positions are primarily in transmembrane domains 3 and 6, which are hypothesized to contribute to the odor-binding pocket, presumably mediating changing ligand specificity.
conclusionsThis study provides support for the hypothesis that some ant lineage-specific Or genes have evolved under positive selection. Newly duplicated genes particularly in the candidate cuticular hydrocarbon receptor clade that have evolved under positive selection may contribute to the highly sophisticated lineage-specific chemical communication in each ant species.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.