Not just humans, even ants follow caste. It defines their destiny

India Today

3 days ago

For ages, biologists have been fascinated by the world of ants, where destiny often depends on caste: queens grow large, sprout wings, and lay eggs, while their sisters remain small, wingless workers.The balance of genetics and environment in determining these roles has long been debated. Now, a study published in PNAS sheds new light on the intricate interplay between genes, body size, environment, and an ant's future.advertisementLed by Dr. Daniel Kronauer at The Rockefeller University, researchers set out to untangle whether environment or genetics is more important in shaping whether a developing ant becomes a queen or a worker.
Using the clonal raider ant, Ooceraea biroi, which allows precise control of genetics and rearing conditions, the team found that size and caste are inextricably linked—but not by environment alone.
The destiny is an interplay between genes, body size, environment. (Photo: Pixabay)
Queens aren't just large workers; they possess wings, large ovaries, and special eyes, while workers lack these features. By manipulating food, temperature, and caregiver genotypes, the team found that these environmental factors influenced caste only by altering the ants' final body size, smaller ants remained workers, while those that grew big enough developed queen-like features.But intriguing differences emerged when the team studied ants from different genetic lines under identical conditions. Some genetic lines produced ants that, even at small sizes, were more likely to develop queen-like traits."Genes don't just influence how big an ant grows," says Patrick Piekarski, co-author and postdoctoral researcher in Kronauer's lab, "they also set the body size threshold at which queen features appear."In other words, two ants of the same size but different genetics can have drastically different chances of becoming queens.
Researchers set out to untangle whether environment or genetics is more important. (Photo: Getty)
While environmental factors, like access to food, can increase or decrease overall size, only genetics determine how size translates to caste. The findings highlight that ant societies have evolved a robust, genetically controlled system for dividing roles, with genes both shaping growth and defining what that growth means to the colony.Understanding the links between genes, size, and social roles isn't just about morphology, it's a window into the evolutionary logic behind insect societies and the roles individuals play within them.- EndsTrending Reel