ArticleeLife2021
Morphological and genomic shifts in mole-rat 'queens' increase fecundity but reduce skeletal integrity.
Article in eLife, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- 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
- Breeding male mole-rats (Fukomys) use strong bites to defend reproductive monopoly.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Genetic Architecture of Immune Cell DNA Methylation in the Rhesus Macaque.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Lactate as a key energy source facilitating cooperative behaviour in helper Damaraland mole-rats.Biology letters · 2025Article
- Bone-derived factors mediate crosstalk between skeletal and extra-skeletal organs.Bone research · 2025Review
- Damaraland mole-rats do not rely on helpers for reproduction or survival.Evolution letters · 2023Article
- Laterality in the Damaraland Mole-Rat: Insights from a Eusocial Mammal.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Morphological and genomic shifts in mole-rat 'queens' increase fecundity but reduce skeletal integrity.eLife · 2021Article
- Not just a cousin of the naked mole-rat: Damaraland mole-rats offer unique insights into biomedicine.Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part B, Biochemistry & molecular biologyReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
In some mammals and many social insects, highly cooperative societies are characterized by reproductive division of labor, in which breeders and nonbreeders become behaviorally and morphologically distinct. While differences in behavior and growth between breeders and nonbreeders have been extensively described, little is known of their molecular underpinnings. Here, we investigate the consequences of breeding for skeletal morphology and gene regulation in highly cooperative Damaraland mole-rats. By experimentally assigning breeding 'queen' status versus nonbreeder status to age-matched littermates, we confirm that queens experience vertebral growth that likely confers advantages to fecundity. However, they also upregulate bone resorption pathways and show reductions in femoral mass, which predicts increased vulnerability to fracture. Together, our results show that, as in eusocial insects, reproductive division of labor in mole-rats leads to gene regulatory rewiring and extensive morphological plasticity. However, in mole-rats, concentrated reproduction is also accompanied by costs to bone strength.
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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.