Trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus
Understanding how a single genome creates distinct phenotypes remains a fundamental challenge for biologists. Social insects provide a striking example of polyphenism, with queen and worker castes exhibiting morphological, behavioral, and reproductive differences. Here, we show that trophic eggs, wh...
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2025-07-01
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| Series: | eLife |
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/86899 |
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| author | Eléonore Genzoni Tanja Schwander Laurent Keller |
| author_facet | Eléonore Genzoni Tanja Schwander Laurent Keller |
| author_sort | Eléonore Genzoni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Understanding how a single genome creates distinct phenotypes remains a fundamental challenge for biologists. Social insects provide a striking example of polyphenism, with queen and worker castes exhibiting morphological, behavioral, and reproductive differences. Here, we show that trophic eggs, which do not contain an embryo and are primarily regarded as a source of food, play a role in the process of caste determination in the harvester ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus. When first instar larvae were given access to trophic eggs, they mostly developed into workers. By contrast, larvae without access to trophic eggs developed into queens. We found that trophic eggs differ in many ways from viable eggs, including texture, morphology, and their contents of protein, triglycerides, glycogen, sugar, and small RNAs. Moreover, comparison of miRNA fragment size distributions suggests differences in the composition of miRNAs between the two egg types. This is the first demonstration of trophic eggs playing a role in caste determination in social insects. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a39b529b571b43cd94a801db9123fa28 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj-art-a39b529b571b43cd94a801db9123fa282025-08-20T03:56:17ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2025-07-011210.7554/eLife.86899Trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant Pogonomyrmex rugosusEléonore Genzoni0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3152-992XTanja Schwander1Laurent Keller2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5046-9953Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore Building, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandDepartment of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore Building, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandDepartment of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore Building, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Social Evolution Unit, Chesières, SwitzerlandUnderstanding how a single genome creates distinct phenotypes remains a fundamental challenge for biologists. Social insects provide a striking example of polyphenism, with queen and worker castes exhibiting morphological, behavioral, and reproductive differences. Here, we show that trophic eggs, which do not contain an embryo and are primarily regarded as a source of food, play a role in the process of caste determination in the harvester ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus. When first instar larvae were given access to trophic eggs, they mostly developed into workers. By contrast, larvae without access to trophic eggs developed into queens. We found that trophic eggs differ in many ways from viable eggs, including texture, morphology, and their contents of protein, triglycerides, glycogen, sugar, and small RNAs. Moreover, comparison of miRNA fragment size distributions suggests differences in the composition of miRNAs between the two egg types. This is the first demonstration of trophic eggs playing a role in caste determination in social insects.https://elifesciences.org/articles/86899antscaste determinationtrophic eggs |
| spellingShingle | Eléonore Genzoni Tanja Schwander Laurent Keller Trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus eLife ants caste determination trophic eggs |
| title | Trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus |
| title_full | Trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus |
| title_fullStr | Trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus |
| title_full_unstemmed | Trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus |
| title_short | Trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus |
| title_sort | trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant pogonomyrmex rugosus |
| topic | ants caste determination trophic eggs |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/86899 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT eleonoregenzoni trophiceggsaffectcastedeterminationintheantpogonomyrmexrugosus AT tanjaschwander trophiceggsaffectcastedeterminationintheantpogonomyrmexrugosus AT laurentkeller trophiceggsaffectcastedeterminationintheantpogonomyrmexrugosus |