(Press-News.org) In order understand the evolution of complex societies, researchers are sequencing the genomes of social insects. The most recent data, published this week in the Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, come from several species of ants, including the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus.
A team, lead by Arizona State University organismal and systems biology professor Juergen Gadau, sequenced one of the genomes and set out to decipher which genes might be responsible for defining which ants work and which ants reproduce in a red harvester ant colony.
Division of labor and reproduction are two crucial characteristics scientists think are important to the evolution of social structure. "Having multiple independently evolved social genomes helps us to better understand which genes are involved in crucial social traits, because those should be highly conserved," Gadau said.
In addition to specialization of roles within a colony, researchers argue that development of methods to communicate information is another key aspect of eusociality, the extreme form of social behavior exhibited by certain bees, termites and ants.
This study was funded by the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems, part of the National Science Foundation's Biology Directorate. The Developmental Systems Cluster within the division supports research aimed at understanding how interacting developmental processes give rise to the emergent properties of organisms.
Results from Gadau's study reveal that, compared to other insects, the red harvester ant genome has significantly more genes associated with the sense of smell, as well as detection and metabolism of chemical signals. This is consistent with the fact that ants use chemical signals to communicate.
Another difference appears in the genes of the ant's immune system. Previously, scientists hypothesized that ants may have evolved novel immune responses or specialized behaviors to avoid disease outbreaks within their dense populations. These results indicate the former may be a distinct possibility, however future comparisons with other insect genomes should yield more insight into the significance of the differences observed in this study.
"The diversity in social structure between the different ants sequenced will allow us to search for the genetic basis and the architecture underlying the observed social diversity in ants," Gadau explained. "A comparison with bees, a completely independent evolutionary lineage, will give us an opportunity to test whether there are multiple ways how a genome can become a sociogenome."
Finally, the team observed evidence of epigenetic differences--or changes in appearance that can be inherited--in genes related to division of labor and reproduction. In this case, the genes responsible for development of wings and ovaries, role-specific traits in a red harvester and colony, appear to show some differences.
According to the researchers, the finding implies that, although the genes themselves are present in both worker and queen ants, when and where the genes are expressed is highly regulated and heritable from one generation to the next.
"Everything we can learn about epigenetic modifications will probably have major implications for human health since these mechanisms are thought to be critical in the development of complex diseases of humans, such as mental illnesses and diabetes," said Gadau.
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Invasive plant species are a serious environmental, economic and social problem worldwide. Their abundance can lead to lost native biodiversity and ecosystem functions, such as nutrient cycling.
Despite substantial research, however, little is known about why some species dominate new habitats over native plants that technically should have the advantage.
A common but rarely tested assumption, say biologists, is that these plants behave in a special way, making them more abundant when introduced into communities versus native plants that are already there.
If true, ...
It has already been called one of the largest winter storms since the 1950s and it is affecting 30 U.S. states today with snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain. NASA satellites have gathering data on the storm that stretches from Texas and the Rockies to the New England states.
NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites have been providing visible, infrared and microwave looks at the storm system's clouds, precipitation, temperatures and extent.
Visible and infrared images and animations of the storm's clouds and movement are created every 15 minutes by the NASA GOES Project at ...
Human amniotic epithelial cells, stem cells derived from human placenta left over from live births and generally discarded, proliferated and differentiated when they interacted with one kind of melatonin receptor, MT1. This potentially therapeutic response occurred when the stem cells were transplanted into laboratory test tube and animal models of stroke. The same cells did not perform similarly when interacting with melatonin receptor MT2.
Researchers from the University of South Florida's Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair, and co-researchers in Brescia, ...
Hepatitis C is a leading cause of illness and death for individuals infected with both HIV and hepatitis C. Recent reports from around the world demonstrate that hepatitis C is emerging as a sexually transmitted infection among HIV-infected men who do not inject drugs. However, many HIV-infected men do not receive continued screening for hepatitis C throughout their HIV care. Hepatitis C symptoms often do not manifest themselves until the later stages of the illness, so people are not as likely to know that they have become infected and hence need further testing and ...
Several NASA satellites have been monitoring the growth of powerful and massive Cyclone Yasi and providing data on clouds, rainfall and intensity to forecasters as it nears Queensland, Australia. NASA data shows where the heaviest rainfall is occurring, frigid temperatures at the top of its thunderstorms and the size of Yasi's eye.
Tropical cyclone Yasi became much more powerful and was upgraded to a dangerous category fpur tropical cyclone on the Saffir Simpson scale on February 1, 2011.
A Cyclone Warning is now in effect for Queensland, Australia for coastal areas ...
Windshields that shed water so effectively that they don't need wipers. Ship hulls so slippery that they glide through the water more efficiently than ordinary hulls.
These are some of the potential applications for graphene, one of the hottest new materials in the field of nanotechnology, raised by the research of James Dickerson, assistant professor of physics at Vanderbilt.
Dickerson and his colleagues have figured out how to create a freestanding film of graphene oxide and alter its surface roughness so that it either causes water to bead up and run off or causes ...
HOUSTON — A targeted delivery combination selectively crosses the tight barrier that protects the brain from the bloodstream to home in on and bind to brain tumors, a research team led by scientists from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported in the January issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
In experiments with mice, the researchers demonstrated that the targeted particles guide payloads to image tumors, treat tumors, or can potentially do both to monitor treatment as it occurs. Their findings open a new research avenue for detecting and ...
Chestnut Hill, MA (2/1/2011) – More than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies commit themselves to corporate social responsibility initiatives in order to protect themselves against negative information. But these moves don't serve as a strong insurance policy against bad press and criticism, according to a report in the current edition of the Journal of Service Research.
The authors found that general corporate social responsibility in and of itself will not shield a company from criticism or negative information because consumers separate ethical/social issues from product ...
Boulder, CO, USA - The February 2011 Geosphere includes two articles designated for the latest Geosphere theme, "New developments in Grenville geology: In honor of James McLelland." Other topics include 3-D characterization of rocks, ash, minerals, lava, and so forth through various technical means: X-ray computed tomography, Stereo Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray micro-fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, and terrestrial LiDAR. Also studied: the La Silla and Todos Santos Formations, Mexico, Death Valley, the south-central Andes, and the Nellis Dunes Recreation Area.
Keywords: ...
Teenage girls and young women infected with HIV get pregnant more often and suffer pregnancy complications more frequently than their HIV-negative peers, according to new research led by Johns Hopkins investigators.
A report on the multi-center study, based on an analysis of records from 181 patients with HIV, ages 13 to 24, treated at four hospitals over 12 years, will be published in the Feb. 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The findings are alarming for at least two reasons, the investigators say. First, teen pregnancies — planned or ...
