Ok, so no one probably cares at all about this other than me, but four new ant genomes are hitting the public!
They include one of the fire ants, the Argentine ant and a species of harvester ant. A species of leafcutter ant is on the way next month in PLOS. Including the two already published genomes, this brings the Formicidae total up to 6. Primates currently have nothing on this INTRAFAMILY genomic dataset.
These ants all differ in biology, ecology, etc. But perhaps most interesting is that the various ants also differ in the degree of eusociality. Now we may have an opportunity to look at how epigenetics affect reproduction, colony structure, etc.
Ants!
Monday, January 31, 2011
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