Scientists uncover genetic innovation underlying evolution of ants

Scientists from the Global Ant Genomics Alliance on Monday published groundbreaking research in the international academic journal Cell, revealing the genetic foundations underlying major adaptive changes in ant evolution and their co-evolving social traits.

Despite their small size, ants display impressive organizational capabilities. They are able to build intricate nests without the use of language for communication, and they exhibit a remarkably efficient division of labor.

By analyzing the whole-genome data of 163 ant genomes collected worldwide, the research team reconstructed the evolutionary tree of the Formicidae family, encompassing 12 of its 16 extant subfamilies.

The team's research clarifies the complex phylogenetic relationships among ant species and traces the common ancestor of extant ants back to the late Jurassic period about 157 million years ago, shedding light on the origin of ant sociality in the age of dinosaurs.

The team discovered that gene families related to olfactory perception had significantly expanded in the genome of this common ancestor, suggesting it already possessed key molecular mechanisms for social communication.

The study also found that different ant species exhibit convergent mechanisms that regulate which ant becomes queen and which ants become workers, reflecting their adaptive evolution under natural selection.

The study involved collaboration between scientists from Zhejiang University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanchang University and BGI Research in China, as well as scientists from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and the University of Münster in Germany.

(Cover: VCG)