一个超级兵蚁与属超多样的大头蚁属次工蚁通讯
目前，发表在新一期Science杂志上的新的发现"Ancestral Developmental Potential Facilitates Parallel Evolution in Ants"提示，在超多样化的大头蚁属中的所有种类的蚂蚁都带有产生巨大的“超级兵蚁”以及普通工蚁和兵蚁所需的基因原材料。
超级兵蚁会用它们的超大号的头堵住它们窝巢的入口并在行军蚁袭击时与入侵的蚂蚁作战。 尽管大头蚁品种多种多样，但超级兵蚁则很少在自然界出现。
Rajendhran Rajakumar及其同事如今证明，所有大头蚁物种的某个共同的祖先演化出了与超级兵蚁发育有关的遗传学工具，而大头蚁的现代物种仍保留了产生这些大头战士的能力，尽管只有少数物种真的付诸实施过。
研究人员通过给幼虫涂抹少量的保幼激素而在某一这样的物种 —— P. morrisi中诱发了超级兵蚁的发育，表明环境信号可打开产生超级兵蚁的基因系统。 文章的作者提出，继续保留祖先的发育工具箱可能是生物体发展出新的身体性状的一种重要的方式。（生物谷bioon.com）
doi:10.1126/science.1211451
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Ancestral Developmental Potential Facilitates Parallel Evolution in Ants
Rajendhran Rajakumar1, Diego San Mauro1,*, Michiel B. Dijkstra1,†, Ming H. Huang2, Diana E. Wheeler2, Francois Hiou-Tim1, Abderrahman Khila1,‡, Michael Cournoyea1,§, Ehab Abouheif1,||
Complex worker caste systems have contributed to the evolutionary success of advanced ant societies; however, little is known about the developmental processes underlying their origin and evolution. We combined hormonal manipulation, gene expression, and phylogenetic analyses with field observations to understand how novel worker subcastes evolve. We uncovered an ancestral developmental potential to produce a “supersoldier” subcaste that has been actualized at least two times independently in the hyperdiverse ant genus Pheidole. This potential has been retained and can be environmentally induced throughout the genus. Therefore, the retention and induction of this potential have facilitated the parallel evolution of supersoldiers through a process known as genetic accommodation. The recurrent induction of ancestral developmental potential may facilitate the adaptive and parallel evolution of phenotypes.
