Supersoldier Ants Reveal Evolutionary Secret | Social Insects & Atavisms
When eight bizarrely big-headed soldier ants turned up in a wild colony collected from Long Island, N.Y., scientists knew they had found something interesting. This discovery of these oversized versions of soldier ants, whose job is to defend the nest, led researchers to create their own supersoldier ants in the lab with the help of a hormone, and, by doing so, offer an explanation for how ants, and possibly other social insects, take on specific forms with dedicated jobs within their colonies. It turns out these abnormal soldier ants were throwbacks to an ancestral state, one that no longer shows up within their species except, apparently, by accident. "It's been known for a long time that these kinds of slips occur, and they are viewed as the Barnum and Bailey of evolution," said the study's senior researcher Ehab Abouheif, Canada research chair in evolutionary developmental biology at McGill University. Meet the supersoldiers Making a supersoldier So why have supersoldiers?
Science Magazine: RNA elimination machinery...
British scientists recreate the molecules that gave birth to life itself
By Nick Enoch Updated: 08:03 GMT, 27 January 2012 Organic chemists at the University of York have recreated a pair of simple sugars - threose and erythrose - in a process which could have occurred before the advent of life Scientists are one step closer to understanding the origin of life after making a breakthrough into how sugar molecules found in DNA are created. Organic chemists at the University of York have recreated a pair of simple sugars - threose and erythrose - in a process which could have occurred before the advent of life. The team, led by Dr Paul Clarke, along with colleagues at the University of Nottingham, have made the first step towards showing how the basic building blocks of life developed. Every biological molecule has an ability to exist in a left-handed form or right-handed form. All sugars in biology are made up of the right-handed form of molecules and yet all the amino acids that make up the peptides and proteins are made up of the left-handed form.
Return of the super ants
An entire genus of ants, comprising more than 1,000 species, has been found to have a hidden ability to make 'supersoldiers' — larger-than-average soldier ants that defend the nest against invaders. And all it takes is a dab of hormone. A few ant species of the Pheidole genus were already known to produce supersoldiers that deter invading army ants by blocking nest entrances with their enormous heads. Scientists have only ever seen these supersoldiers in 8 out of 1,100 Pheidole species. Photo courtesy of Alex Wild/alexanderwild.com Soldiers and supersoldiers from the hyper-diverse ant genus Pheidole marching side by side to defend their nest. The eight species that routinely produce supersoldiers are found only in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. Abouheif and his colleagues found that the ants’ supersoldier program is an extension of the same developmental events that set normal soldiers apart from workers. But that is not the case.
io9: What mysterious genetic ma...
Dragonflies keeping their eyes on the prize | The Scicurious Brain
One of the things I love most about science blogging is the opportunity to learn about entirely new things. Of course, we all have that opportunity on most days, but having to find something to blog about three times a week definitely keeps me on my toes. And what I learn can be so fascinating! Often it’s about barnacle sperm or the evo psych of romance novels, but there are other, safe for work kinds of fascination, too! And today, my fascination is with dragonflies. And my fascination with them grew even more as I read this paper. Gonzalez-Bellido et al. (Source) The authors recorded from the visual neurons of a large number of dragonflies as they were presented with prey moving across the visual field. These dragonflies have a set of neurons called small target movement detectors, which specifically detect the small and speedy movements of potential prey. The visual fields were all partially overlapping, creating an area of very high sensitivity right at the midline. *Kidding!
Telomere length in birds predicts longevity
Protective caps known as telomeres that help to preserve the integrity of chromosomes can also predict lifespan in young zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), researchers have found. Telomeres are stretches of repetitive DNA sequence that are found at the ends of chromosomes, where they help to maintain cell viability by preventing the fraying of DNA and the fusion of one chromosome to another. The relationship between normal ageing and telomere decline has long been suspected — and even asserted by some companies that measure customers’ telomere length — but the link remains unproven in humans (see 'Spit test offers guide to health'). P. The lifespan of zebra finches is strongly correlated with the length of the chromosome caps that protect their DNA, known as telomeres, particularly at 25 days old. Most studies of longevity and telomere length have relied on only one or two measurements from an individual during their lifespan.
Kamoun Lab @ TSL: "Rice miRNA in human blood...
Life Science Reference - Biology Online
Resurrecting Evolution to Solve an 800-Million-Year-Old Puzzle | The Loom
This is a story of about how the parts of a puzzle locked into place 800 million years ago. The puzzle is an ion pump that you can find in any mushroom, mold, or yeast. I’ve reproduced a picture of it here. Fungus cells, like our own cells, have lots of little pouches inside of them for carrying out special kinds of chemical reactions. In order for those reactions to work, there have to be a lot of positively-charged protons inside the pouches. This pump (which is is offically known as a vacuolar ATPase complex) is a wonderfully complex collection of proteins. Joe Thornton, a biologist at the University of Oregon, and his colleagues wondered how this pump came to be. The closest major group of species to fungi are animals. The scientists compared the genes for these ring proteins to other genes in order to reconstruct their evoluationary history. By comparing Vma3 and Vma11 in yeast, Thornton and his colleagues were able to infer the structure of their ancestral protein.
Scicasts News Media: Scientists Create Novel RN...
Science Daily: News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology
Giant Galapagos tortoise extinct for 150 years might still be alive | ZME Science
Giant Galapagos Tortoises in Isabela Island, Galapagos. Adults of large subspecies can weigh over 300 kilograms (660lb) and measure 1.2 meters (4 ft) long. Although the maximum life expectancy of a wild tortoise is unknown, the average life expectancy is estimated to be 200 years. A subspecies of the the giant Galapagos tortoise, Chelonoidis elephantopus, long thought to be extinct for more than 150 years, is now believed to might still exist, scientists say. Yale University researchers conducted a highly thorough genetic analysis of various Galapagos giant tortoises in the region, which allowed them to speculate that at least a few dozen specimens of the elusive Chelonoidis elephantopus might still be alive! In 1835 during his antological Beagle expedition to the archipelago, Charles Darwin extensively studied the giant tortoises there, which he reserved a special chapter in his theory of evolution by natural selection. source
Foresight Institute: CAD tools to engineer meta...
