North Carolina State University researchers have sequenced the genome of a member of the termite order, the dampwood termite (Zootermopsis nevadensis) for the first time ever.
Research was published this week in Nature Communications.
The dampwood termite is one of the world's most primitive social insects, and the findings on the genetic blueprint of the bug highlights key similarities and differences with other social insects like wasps, bees, and ants.
It also provides new insight into how social insects involved and could help researchers pinpoint specific gene functions to create new ways of controlling unwanted termites, according to a North Carolina State University press release.
Dampwood termites spend most of their lives inside a tree log. Researchers believe that males have expanded male fertility genes to "continually fertilize eggs produced by queens that don't store sperm for very long," according to the release.
In comparison, ant males deliver sperm once in a while and have short lives. This forces ant queens to store sperm for a long time, said Dr. Ed Vargo, professor of entomology and a co-author of the paper.
"Generally, ant males deliver sperm and then die. But sperm production goes on for life in the dampwood termite male," Vargo said, according to the release.
The study shows how termites have fewer receptors associated with the smell of other social insects as well.
Since termites rarely leave home, they don't experience a wide variety of smells, meaning they have no need for a wide odor palate. Dr. R. Michael Roe, an NC State professor of entomology and co-author of the paper, said that past studies on ants and bees showed that a "sophisticated chemical communication behavior system needs lots of sensory receptor genes," according to the release.
"These sensory receptors may not be as important to being social as we previously believed, at least for these more primitive termites," Roe added. "These findings also show that you can't make assumptions about termites by studying ants, it's important to study both as comprehensively as possible."
NC State Ph.D. student Robert Mitchell and master's student Jiwei Zhu are co-authors of the paper. Lead authors on the paper are Judith Korb from the University of Osnabruck, Guojie Zhang from the University of Copenhagen and Jurgen Liebig from Arizona State University.
Researchers also outlined similarities between dampwood termites and other social insects in the study. For example, a number of the termite genes involved in sex and caste determination are also present in ants.
This could lead to new baits that eliminate termites from eating up your home, according to Vargo.
"The vast majority of termites are not pests," Vargo said. "They serve important functions in decomposition, for example. But we can use this sequence information to figure out ways of disrupting certain pathways which could have pest control implications for termites causing problems in homes."
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