Differential regulation of the foraging gene associated with task behaviors in harvester ants.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The division of labor in social insect colonies involves transitions by workers from one task to another and is critical to the organization and ecological success of colonies. The differential regulation of genetic pathways is likely to be a key mechanism involved in plasticity of social insect task behavior. One of the few pathways implicated in social organization involves the cGMP-activated protein kinase gene, foraging, a gene associated with foraging behavior in social insect species. The association of the foraging gene with behavior is conserved across diverse species, but the observed expression patterns and proposed functions of this gene vary across taxa. We compared the protein sequence of foraging across social insects and explored whether the differential r

SUBMITTER: Ingram KK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3180247 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature