Researchers Sequence Genome of Primitive Termite

北卡罗来纳州立大学昆虫学家是研究团队的一部分，其中第一次排序是白蚁命令成员的基因组，Dampwood白蚁（Zootermopsis nevadensis). A paper reports the findings today inNature Communications.

The findings on the genetic blueprint of the dampwood termite, one of the world’s most primitive social insects, highlight key differences and similarities with other social insects like ants, wasps and bees, and provide insight into how social insects evolved. The findings could also help researchers pinpoint specific gene functions to devise measures to control unwanted termites.

Dampwood termites don’t get out much; most of their lives are spent inside a tree log. So it stands to reason that termite males have expanded male fertility genes to continually fertilize eggs produced by queens that don’t store sperm for very long. In contrast, ant males deliver sperm once in a short-lived and often far-flung existence, forcing ant queens to store sperm for a long time, says Dr. Ed Vargo, professor of entomology and a co-author of the paper.

“一般来说，蚂蚁雄性递送精子，然后死。但是精子生产在Dampwood白蚁男性中持续生活，“变化说。

该研究还表明，白蚁具有与其他社会昆虫相关的嗅觉相关的受体较少。虽然这是一个基本级别的意义 - 虽然基本级别 - 一个不会离开家的白蚁可能不会经历各种各样的气味，因此无需广泛的气味 - 发现也有点令人惊讶。该论文昆虫学县昆虫学教授R. Michael Roe博士表示，蚂蚁和蜜蜂的先前研究表明，复杂的化学沟通行为系统需要大量的感官受体基因。

“These sensory receptors may not be as important to being social as we previously believed, at least for these more primitive termites,” Roe said. “These findings also show that you can’t make assumptions about termites by studying ants – it’s important to study both as comprehensively as possible.”

The study also found some key similarities between dampwood termites and other social insects. Many of the termite genes involved in sex and caste determination appear to be present in ants, for example.

These findings, along with others reported in the paper, could lead to new baits that eliminate the termites eating your home.

“The vast majority of termites are not pests,” Vargo said. “They serve important functions in decomposition, for example. But we can use this sequence information to figure out ways of disrupting certain pathways which could have pest control implications for termites causing problems in homes.”

数控状态Ph.D. student Robert Mitchell and master’s student Jiwei Zhu are co-authors of the paper. Lead authors on the paper are Judith Korb, University of Osnabruck; Guojie Zhang, University of Copenhagen; and Jurgen Liebig, Arizona State University.

- kulikowski

“Molecular traces of alternative social organization in a termite genome”

Authors: Robert Mitchell, Jiwei Zhu, R. Michael Roe, Edward L. Vargo, North Carolina State University; lead authors are Judith Korb, University of Osnabruck; Guojie Zhang, University of Copenhagen; and Jurgen Liebig, Arizona State University

Published: May 20, 2014, inNature Communications

DOI: 10.1038/nscomms4636

Abstract: Although eusociality evolved independently within several orders of insects, research into the molecular underpinnings of the transition towards social complexity has been confined primarily to Hymenoptera (for example, ants and bees). Here we sequence the genome and stage-specific transcriptomes of the dampwood termiteZootermopsis nevadensis（Blattodea）并将它们与Eusocial Hymenoptera的类似数据进行比较，以更好地确定符合实现这一重要转变的共性和差异。我们展示了与男性生育有关的基因的扩张，具有较上调的男性生殖个人中的基因表达，相对于Hymenoptera的交配生物学的深刻差异。对于几个化学感受器家族，我们显示出不同数量的基因，这可能对应于这些白蚁的傲慢生活方式。我们还展示了与种姓确定机制相关的基因数量和表达的相似之处。最后，DNA甲基化和替代剪接的模式支持姓氏的假设表观遗传调节。