The study of infection and immunity in insects has achieved considerable prominence with
the appreciation that their host defense mechanisms share many fundamental …

Understanding the molecular basis of how behavioural states are established, maintained
and altered by environmental cues is an area of considerable and growing interest …

Social insects are promising model systems for epigenetics due to their immense
morphological and behavioral plasticity. Reports that DNA methylation differs between the …

A major aim of sociogenomic research is to uncover common principles in the molecular
evolution of sociality. This endeavor has been hampered by the small number of specific …

The extreme diversity of dispersal strategies in ants is unique among terrestrial animals. The
nature of ant colonies as social, perennial and sessile superorganisms is the basis for …

Background The complex societies of ants and other social insects rely on sophisticated
chemical communication. Two families of small soluble proteins, the odorant binding and …

The evolution of reproductive division of labour and social life in social insects has lead to
the emergence of several life‐history traits and adaptations typical of larger organisms …

Organisms rarely act in isolation. Their decisions and movements are often heavily
influenced by direct and indirect interactions with conspecifics. For example, we each …

Highlights•Methylation cannot be dismissed in regulating division of labor in social
insects.•Histone modifications seem to play a role during division of labor.•Future studies …

The evolution of sociality in insects caused a divergence in lifespan between reproductive
and non-reproductive castes. Ant queens can live for decades, while most workers survive …