Towards reconstructing the ancestral brain gene-network regulating caste differentiation in ants.

ABSTRACT: Specialized queens and life-time unmated workers evolved once in the common ancestor of all ants, but whether caste development across ants continues to be at least partly regulated by a single core set of genes remains obscure. We analysed brain transcriptomes from five ant species (three subfamilies) and reconstructed the origins of genes with caste-biased expression. Ancient genes predating the Neoptera were more likely to regulate gyne (virgin queen) phenotypes, while the caste differentiation roles of younger, ant-lineage-specific genes varied. Transcriptome profiling showed that the ancestral network for caste-specific gene regulation has been maintained, but that signatures of common ancestry are obscured by later modifications. Adjusting for such differences, we identified a core g

SUBMITTER: Qiu B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6217981 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature