ArticleNature ecology & evolution2018
Towards reconstructing the ancestral brain gene-network regulating caste differentiation in ants.
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-Analysis of Public RNA Sequencing Data Revealed Potential Key Genes Associated with Reproductive Division of Labor in Social Hymenoptera and Termites.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Co-expression Gene Networks and Machine-learning Algorithms Unveil a Core Genetic Toolkit for Reproductive Division of Labour in Rudimentary Insect Societies.Genome biology and evolution · 2023Pooled it
- Fraternal cooperation of hierarchical cancer parallels metazoan multicellularity and eusociality.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- From Egg to Adult: A Developmental Table of the Ant Monomorium pharaonis.Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution · 2024Article
- Juvenile hormone as a key regulator for asymmetric caste differentiation in ants.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- The Molecular Substrates of Insect Eusociality.Annual review of genetics · 2024Review
- A genetic toolkit underlying the queen phenotype in termites with totipotent workers.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Molecular signatures of alternative reproductive strategies in a facultatively social hover wasp.Molecular ecology · 2024Article
- Molecular patterns and processes in evolving sociality: lessons from insects.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
- Convergent and complementary selection shaped gains and losses of eusociality in sweat bees.Nature ecology & evolution · 2023Article
- Molecular mechanisms of adaptive evolution in wild animals and plants.Science China. Life sciences · 2023Review
- Social complexity, life-history and lineage influence the molecular basis of castes in vespid wasps.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Canalized gene expression during development mediates caste differentiation in ants.Nature ecology & evolution · 2022Article
- A single-cell transcriptomic atlas tracking the neural basis of division of labour in an ant superorganism.Nature ecology & evolution · 2022Article
- Validation of Potential Reference Genes for Real-Time qPCR Analysis in Pharaoh Ant,Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Relaxed selection underlies genome erosion in socially parasitic ant species.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Comparative transcriptomic analysis of the mechanisms underpinning ageing and fecundity in social insects.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- An ancient, conserved gene regulatory network led to the rise of oral venom systems.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- Transcriptomic analyses of the termite, Cryptotermes secundus, reveal a gene network underlying a long lifespan and high fecundity.Communications biology · 2021Article
- Gene expression during larval caste determination and differentiation in intermediately eusocial bumblebees, and a comparative analysis with advanced eusocial honeybees.Molecular ecology · 2021Article
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6 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
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Abstract
Specialized queens and life-time unmated workers evolved once in the common ancestor of all ants, but whether caste development across ants continues to be at least partly regulated by a single core set of genes remains obscure. We analysed brain transcriptomes from five ant species (three subfamilies) and reconstructed the origins of genes with caste-biased expression. Ancient genes predating the Neoptera were more likely to regulate gyne (virgin queen) phenotypes, while the caste differentiation roles of younger, ant-lineage-specific genes varied. Transcriptome profiling showed that the ancestral network for caste-specific gene regulation has been maintained, but that signatures of common ancestry are obscured by later modifications. Adjusting for such differences, we identified a core gene-set that: (1) consistently displayed similar directions and degrees of caste-differentiated expression; and (2) have mostly not been reported as being involved in caste differentiation. These core regulatory genes exist in the genomes of ant species that secondarily lost the queen caste, but expression differences for reproductive and sterile workers are minor and similar to social paper wasps that lack differentiated castes. Many caste-biased ant genes have caste-differentiated expression in honeybees, but directions of caste bias were uncorrelated, as expected when permanent castes evolved independently in both lineages.
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