2023-04-16 14:02:10
About the episode
The invasive greyhound ant – in English yellow crazy ant probably because of the hysterical movements they make when you disturb them – has puzzled researchers worldwide.
Not because of those wild movements, but because of their genes. The males of this ant appear to carry two different DNA sets. Like they are of two kinds. Such a double species is sometimes more common in other animals, but then it is usually a mistake. It may have once been the case with this ant, but it is now an essential part of their existence.
The discovery solves a mystery that has been studied for 15 years. Usually, ants reproduce by fertilization of eggs by males, or by asexual reproduction, involving only one parent: the queen. Female ants are usually born from fertilized eggs, males from the unfertilized variety.
But in 2007, researchers discovered that males of the yellow crazy ant had mixed genes, as if they were made by two parents. Six years later, it was discovered that all the queens in a colony came from the same genetic lineage, but the female worker ants in the colony were from a completely different lineage.
Among the males, they found that some males were related to the queen and some to the workers. That would make sense if there were two kinds of males in the colony, but they didn’t see that. Even when they studied cells from the males, they found just one set of genes per cell. But…. when they compared different cells IN the same ant with each other, they suddenly found cells with a different, second genome.
This story doesn’t stop there, but the sequel is a bit complicated. The fact that these male ants have this in this way is unique in biology. Most researchers agree on that. In addition, it raises a lot of new questions. Those who want to dive deeper will find links to articles online with the audio, at the bottom of the text.
Read more about the research: Crazy ants’ strange genomes are a biological first. Or here: These Male Ants Have Two Separate Sets of DNA.
#Unique #duplicate #DNA #set #discovered #males #hysterical #greyhound #ant