Do Switches & "Reading" Genes really sound like the result of time + chance over eons?
Or does it sound like organized, pre-programmed structures?....Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Proverbs 6:6
"When it comes to career paths, worker ants split into castes: Some tackle defense, others forage for the colony. But these roles aren’t predestined. An ant’s career trajectory is influenced by factors in its environment early on in life.
Now, a study reveals one way those environmental factors play out. A protein called CoREST acts like a molecular switch in Florida carpenter ants (Camponotus floridanus).
Brawny warriors, called majors, and foraging, nursery-tending workers, called minors, share nearly identical sets of DNA. So researchers have looked for epigenetic influences, chemical tags on DNA and associated proteins that can manipulate how genes are read, to explain the different behaviors.
The new study highlights that even highly specialized social insects retain substantial flexibility and responsiveness to their environment.
Berger’s team had previously shown that injection of a chemical, trichostatin A, that helps unwind tightly packaged DNA could reprogram the majors to behave like minors.
Berger and her colleagues injected trichostatin A into the brains of worker ants either zero, five or 10 days after the ants emerged as adults from their pupal stage. These injections could reprogram major workers up to five days into their adult stage, but if administered later, the ants’ roles were already cast and it was too late to change them.
When the team analyzed gene activity during this five-day window of sensitivity the reprogrammed major workers were producing more CoREST protein than those not injected with trichostatin A. CoREST represses enzymes that break down juvenile hormone, a hormone normally elevated in minor workers, but not in majors, the team found.
Boosting CoREST made the warriors more like their minor foraging brethren — with less enzyme production and more juvenile hormone."
ScienceNews
Or does it sound like organized, pre-programmed structures?....Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Proverbs 6:6
"When it comes to career paths, worker ants split into castes: Some tackle defense, others forage for the colony. But these roles aren’t predestined. An ant’s career trajectory is influenced by factors in its environment early on in life.
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| Normally, ants called minors (left) spend their time foraging for food. Other ants called majors (right) typically defend the nest and rarely forage, but injecting a chemical into their brains makes the ants start searching for food. |
Brawny warriors, called majors, and foraging, nursery-tending workers, called minors, share nearly identical sets of DNA. So researchers have looked for epigenetic influences, chemical tags on DNA and associated proteins that can manipulate how genes are read, to explain the different behaviors.
The new study highlights that even highly specialized social insects retain substantial flexibility and responsiveness to their environment.
Berger’s team had previously shown that injection of a chemical, trichostatin A, that helps unwind tightly packaged DNA could reprogram the majors to behave like minors.
Berger and her colleagues injected trichostatin A into the brains of worker ants either zero, five or 10 days after the ants emerged as adults from their pupal stage. These injections could reprogram major workers up to five days into their adult stage, but if administered later, the ants’ roles were already cast and it was too late to change them.
When the team analyzed gene activity during this five-day window of sensitivity the reprogrammed major workers were producing more CoREST protein than those not injected with trichostatin A. CoREST represses enzymes that break down juvenile hormone, a hormone normally elevated in minor workers, but not in majors, the team found.
Boosting CoREST made the warriors more like their minor foraging brethren — with less enzyme production and more juvenile hormone."
ScienceNews