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Highly Accessed Review

Ant genomics sheds light on the molecular regulation of social organization

Romain Libbrecht12*, Peter R Oxley1, Daniel JC Kronauer1 and Laurent Keller2*

Author Affiliations

1 Laboratory of Insect Social Evolution, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA

2 Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore Building, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

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Genome Biology 2013, 14:212 doi:10.1186/gb-2013-14-7-212

Published: 29 July 2013

Abstract

Ants are powerful model systems for the study of cooperation and sociality. In this review, we discuss how recent advances in ant genomics have contributed to our understanding of the evolution and organization of insect societies at the molecular level.

Keywords:
Ant; Social insect; Caste determination; Communication; Division of labor; Epigenetics; Genome; Genomics; Immunity; Model; Mutualism