Higher expression of somatic repair genes in long-lived ant queens than workers

Lucas, Eric; Privman, Eyal; Keller, Laurent

doi:10.18632/aging.101027

Cited by 29 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 74 publications

(29 reference statements)

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“…It is therefore tempting to speculate that worker NMRs should show greater aging (and cancer) than breeders, because the former perform most of the risky functions in the colony. However, as noted above and unlike social insects where differences in aging between castes has been found (Chapuisat and Keller 2002;Keller and Jemielity 2006;Lucas et al 2016), NMR breeders derive from workers and dispersers, meaning that much of the adaptive gene expression in the former is likely to be similar in the latter two morphs. This is effectively what the data show (negligible cancer incidence) when workers are reared beyond ages attained in the wild.…”

Section: A Hypothesis To Explain the Observationsmentioning

confidence: 90%

A Hypothesis to Explain Cancers in Confined Colonies of Naked Mole Rats

Hochberg

Noble

Braude

2016

Preprint

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Naked mole rats (NMRs) are subterranean eusocial mammals, known for their virtual absence of aging in their first 20 to 30 years of life, and their apparent resistance to cancer development. As such, this species has become an important biological model for investigating the physiological and molecular mechanisms behind cancer resistance. Two recent studies have discovered middle and late-aged worker (that is, non-breeding) NMRs in captive populations exhibiting neoplasms, consistent with cancer development, challenging the claim that NMRs are cancer resistant. These cases are possibly artefacts of inbreeding or certain rearing conditions in captivity, but they are also consistent with evolutionary theory.We present field data showing that worker NMRs live on average for 1 to 2 years. This, together with considerable knowledge about the biology of this species, provides the basis for an evolutionary explanation for why debilitating cancers in NMRs should be rare in captive populations and absent in the wild. Whereas workers are important for maintaining tunnels, colony defence, brood care, and foraging, they are highly vulnerable to predation. However, surviving workers either replace dead breeders, or assume other less active functions whilst preparing for possible dispersal. These countervailing forces (selection resulting in aging due to early-life investments in worker function, and selection for breeder longevity) along with the fact that all breeders derive from the worker morph, can explain the low levels of cancer observed by these recent studies in captive colonies. Because workers in the field typically never reach ages where cancer becomes a risk to performance or mortality, those rare observations of neoplastic growth should be confined to the artificial environments where workers survive to ages rarely if ever occurring in the wild. Thus, we predict that the worker phenotype fortuitously benefits from antiaging and cancer protection in captive populations.

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Section: A Hypothesis To Explain the Observationsmentioning

confidence: 90%

A Hypothesis to Explain Cancers in Confined Colonies of Naked Mole Rats

Hochberg

Noble

Braude

2016

Preprint

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“…Potentially important pathways include ones which can repair damage when it occurs, such as those involved in DNA repair (Lombard et al, 2005). DNA repair gene expression is higher in queens than workers in L. niger (Lucas, Privman, & Keller, 2016) and in naked mole rats compared to mice (MacRae et al, 2015), indicating an association between DNA repair and longevity. However, this upregulation of DNA repair pathways contrasts with the lack of difference in DNA damage accumulation between queen and worker described above.…”

Section: Senescencementioning

confidence: 99%

The co‐evolution of longevity and social life

Lucas

Keller

2019

Funct Ecol

Self Cite

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Thoughts on sociality and longevity are pervasive in human consciousness because of our strong social bonds and our fear of death. Furthermore, we understand that sociality and longevity are linked, because we inherently recognize the risks that social isolation poses to a long and healthy life. What is less widely appreciated is that sociality and longevity may not only affect each other at the scale of an individual's life, but also throughout the evolution of species. For example, because our species is both social and long-lived relative to most other mammals, it has been proposed that our longevity may be due at least in part to our social mode of life (Carey & Judge,

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“…Such disparity is fascinating yet challenges the application of classic theories of aging [43] and we have limited understanding of the mechanisms involved. A transcriptomic analysis of Lasius ants at three time points found that DNA repair genes are more highly expressed in both brain and leg tissues of queens than age-matched workers [44 ], pointing at an association between greater lifespan and somatic repair. Because queens are long lived but mate shortly after emergence from the pupae, the longterm storage of viable sperm in the queen's specialized organ (spermatheca) is another conundrum that is only now being investigated.…”

Section: Investigating Intraspecific Variation In Lifespanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genes and genomic processes underpinning the social lives of ants

Favreau

Martínez-Ruiz

Santiago

et al. 2018

Current Opinion in Insect Science

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The >15 000 ant species are all highly social and show great variation in colony organization, complexity and behavior. The mechanisms by which such sociality evolved, as well as those underpinning the elaboration of ant societies since their $140 million year old common ancestor, have long been pondered. Here, we review recent insights generated using various genomic approaches. This includes understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying caste differentiation and the diversity of social structures, studying the impact of eusociality on genomic evolutionary rates, and investigating gene expression changes associated with differences in lifespan between castes. Furthermore, functional studies involving RNAi and CRISPR have recently been successfully applied to ants, opening the door to exciting research that promises to revolutionize the understanding of the evolution and diversification of social living.

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Higher expression of somatic repair genes in long-lived ant queens than workers

Cited by 29 publications

References 74 publications

A Hypothesis to Explain Cancers in Confined Colonies of Naked Mole Rats

A Hypothesis to Explain Cancers in Confined Colonies of Naked Mole Rats

The co‐evolution of longevity and social life

Genes and genomic processes underpinning the social lives of ants

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