Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40512787›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2025

Transgenerational epigenetic effect of kings' aging on offspring's caste fate mediated by sperm DNA methylation in termites.

Mamoru Takata, Michihiko Takahashi, Tomoki Ishibashi, Eisuke Tasaki, Olav Rueppell, Edward L Vargo, Kenji Matsuura

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Transgenerational epigenetic effect of kings' aging on offspring's caste fate mediated by sperm DNA methylation in termites.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Mamoru Takata *Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-8181-9987
Michihiko Takahashi *Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
Tomoki IshibashiLaboratory of Insect Ecology, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.ORCID 0000-0001-6652-9343
Eisuke TasakiLaboratory of Insect Ecology, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-6514-5134
Olav RueppellDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-5370-4229
Edward L VargoDepartment of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.ORCID 0000-0002-8712-1248
Kenji MatsuuraLaboratory of Insect Ecology, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-9099-6694

Funding

MEXT | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) JP18H05268MEXT | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) JP20K20380MEXT | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) JP21K14863MEXT | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) JP22K14830MEXT | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) JP23H00332
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The discovery of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and the unraveling of its molecular mechanisms are currently solving previously puzzling challenges that Mendelian genetics based solely on DNA could not explain, leading to significant paradigm shifts across various fields of biology. There has been a long-standing controversy over the factors determining the caste fate of individuals in social insects. Increasing evidence supports heritable influences on division of labor. Here, we provide evidence that transgenerational epigenetic inheritance influences caste determination in a termite. We demonstrate that the age of the king influences the caste fate of offspring, with young kings' progeny showing a higher tendency for reproductive differentiation compared to offspring from older kings (under controlled conditions). Then, we conducted a high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly for the Japanese subterranean termite

Indexed as

AgingDNA MethylationEpigenesis, GeneticIsopteraSpermatozoaAnimalsFemaleMaleReproductionagingcaste determinationepigenetic inheritancesocial insectswhole-genome bisulfite sequence

Identifiers

PMID40512787
PMCPMC12184646

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Registered trials

None linked

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.