ArticleScientific reports2019
Long-lived Temnothorax ant queens switch from investment in immunity to antioxidant production with age.
Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cestode infection is linked to transcriptional shifts in neuropeptide signalling and caste-specific ageing pathways in a social insect.BMC genomics · 2026Article
- Sequential origin of an alternative colony founding strategy driven by two supergenes in Temnothorax ants.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Unmated Queens Show Worker-Like Behaviour and Gene Expression in Polygynous Colonies of the Ant Stigmatomma pallipes.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Integrated co-expression analysis of host-parasite transcriptomes reveals mechanisms of host modulation in an ant-cestode system.BMC genomics · 2026Article
- Age, caste, and social context shape ovarian morphology and transcriptomic profiles in red harvester ants.npj aging · 2025Article
- Inter-Caste Comparison Reveals a Unique Bioenergetic Signature in Long-Lived Ant Queens.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Molecular Adjustment to a Social Niche: Brain Transcriptomes Reveal Divergent Influence of Social Environment on the Two Queen Morphs of the Ant Temnothorax rugatulus.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Worker Survival and Egg Production-But Not Transcriptional Activity-Respond to Queen Number in the Highly Polygynous, Invasive Ant Tapinoma magnum.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Mining Amphibian and Insect Transcriptomes for Antimicrobial Peptide Sequences with rAMPage.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Social divergence: molecular pathways underlying castes and longevity in a facultatively eusocial small carpenter bee.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Lifespan prolonging mechanisms and insulin upregulation without fat accumulation in long-lived reproductives of a higher termite.Communications biology · 2022Article
- Genetic repression of the antioxidant enzymes reduces the lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2022Article
- Histone acetylation regulates the expression of genes involved in worker reproduction in the ant Temnothorax rugatulus.BMC genomics · 2021Article
- Biomarkers in a socially exchanged /fluid reflect colony maturity, behavior, and distributed metabolism.eLife · 2021Article
- Gene Coexpression Network Reveals Highly Conserved, Well-Regulated Anti-Ageing Mechanisms in Old Ant Queens.Genome biology and evolution · 2021Article
- Extreme lifespan extension in tapeworm-infected ant workers.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Long-lived termite kings and queens activate telomerase in somatic organs.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Molecular regulation of lifespan extension in fertile ant workers.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Reproductive activation in honeybee (Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- The plasticity of lifespan in social insects.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Review
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Senescence is manifested by an increase in molecular damage and a deterioration of biological functions with age. In most organisms, body maintenance is traded-off with reproduction. This negative relationship between longevity and fecundity is also evident on the molecular level. Exempt from this negative trait association, social insect queens are both extremely long-lived and highly fecund. Here, we study changes in gene expression with age and fecundity in ant queens to understand the molecular basis of their long lifespan. We analyse tissue-specific gene expression in young founding queens and old fecund queens of the ant Temnothorax rugatulus. More genes altered their expression with age in the fat body than in the brain. Despite strong differences in ovary development, few fecundity genes were differentially expressed. Young founding queens invested in immunity (i.e. activation of Toll signalling pathway) and resistance against environmental and physiological stress (i.e. down-regulation of TOR pathway). Conversely, established older queens invested into anti-aging mechanisms through an overproduction of antioxidants (i.e. upregulation of catalase, superoxide dismutase). Finally, we identified candidate genes and pathways, potentially involved in the association between fertility and longevity in social insects and its proximate basis.
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