Scientists find new colony structure of fire ants evolved in one species before spreading to others

A new type of ant society has been discovered by scientists from Queen Mary University of London. After the new form of society evolved in one species, a social supergene spread to other species. The spread occurred through the breeding of ants. The ants are more successful than if they only had the social form.

The red fire ants had only one queen. colonies could have dozens of queens one million years ago, when a new social form evolved. The genetic information necessary to make workers accept more than one queen is contained in a particular version of a large section of chromosomes. The same version of the social supergene is present in multiple fire ant species, according to a new research published today in Nature Communications.

Transfer of large amounts of genetic information is rare because of genetic incompatibilities. In this case, the advantages of having multiple queens overrode the incompatibilities and the genetic material spread to other species from the one source species in which this new social form evolved. There are advantages to the multiple-queen social form. A multiple-queen colony has more workers than a colony with only one queen. A colony with multiple queens is less likely to become queenless if there is a flood.

The research shows how evolutionary innovations can spread across species. It shows how evolution works.

It was incredibly surprising to discover that other species were able to acquire a new form of social organization. A large piece of chromosomes contains hundreds of genes, which is the supergene region that creates multi-queen colonies. It's rare to have a mix of different genes from different species in the same genome, because the many parts of a genome evolve in a way that's fine-tuned.

The new version of the supergene leads workers to accept multiple queens instead of executing extra queens. We want to identify which genes or parts of the supergene region lead to changes in behavior after studying the history of the supergene and new social form extensively. This will help fill some of the gaps in our understanding of evolutionary processes.

The study shows how detailed analysis of large numbers of wild animals can provide surprising new insight on how evolution works.

The team from Queen Mary was one of the first in the world to apply large-scale DNA-sequencing approaches to wild insects.

The red fire ants are known for their painful sting. In many parts of the world, this species is known for its aggressiveness and high population density. Efforts at controlling the spread of this species have largely been unsuccessful.

More information: Stolle et al. Recurring adaptive introgression of a supergene variant that determines social organisation, Nature Communications (2022). Journal information: Nature Communications Citation: Scientists find new colony structure of fire ants evolved in one species before spreading to others (2022, March 11) retrieved 11 March 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-03-scientists-colony-ants-evolved-species.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.