How the ant queen gets her crown: Uncovering the evolution of queen-worker differences
Tuesday, April 12, 2016 - 09:30
in Biology & Nature
Queen and worker ants develop from the same sets of genes, but perform completely different ecological roles. How the same genes result in two types of individuals is an ongoing mystery. In the past, scientists have only studied a small number of ant species at a time to try to understand the nature of queen-worker differences. However, a global research team recently looked at a large data set with 16 species that provides insight into the differences between queen and worker ants.