How Jumping Genes May Have Helped Ants Become One of Earth’s Most Successful Insects
Ants may owe part of their evolutionary success to mobile pieces of DNA that scientists once regarded mainly as genetic parasites. Research published in Science Advances suggests that these so-called jumping genes helped drive the diversification of ants following the mass extinction that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs around 66 million years ago.
The international study, led by Dr Lukas Schrader of the Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity at the University of Münster in Germany, examined how these genetic elements may have influenced the development of modern ant species.
More than 15,000 ant species are known today, occupying habitats across the world. Their rise has been linked to ecological changes, but the new findings point to a possible genetic mechanism that helped them take advantage of those opportunities.
Transposable elements, commonly called jumping genes, are sections of DNA capable of moving to different positions within a genome or making additional copies of themselves. Although they can disrupt normal genetic activity, they can also introduce changes that evolution may use.
The researchers compared the genomes of 163 ant species, representing 12 of the 16 subfamilies that survive today. From these comparisons, they reconstructed changes in transposable element activity over approximately 100 million years.
Their analysis revealed that ant lineages with larger numbers of jumping genes also tended to contain more species. Several major lineages experienced separate surges in this genetic activity during the early Paleogene, around the time of the mass extinction and the environmental changes that followed.
These bursts occurred before the lineages expanded into the diverse groups seen today. The pattern suggests that mobile DNA may have helped ants respond to changing ecological conditions, although the association does not establish that jumping genes alone caused their diversification.
The study also identified a potential connection between transposable elements and the expansion of genes involved in chemical sensing.
Ants rely heavily on chemical signals to recognise nestmates, navigate their surroundings, locate food, and coordinate activities within their colonies. Odorant receptors allow them to detect these signals, making them essential to the organisation of ant societies.
The findings suggest that jumping genes may have contributed to the expansion of these receptor gene families, potentially increasing the range of chemical information ants could detect.
Similar links between transposable element activity and evolutionary change have been investigated in other animal groups, including primates and bats.
The research offers a new perspective on how genetic changes can interact with environmental upheaval. DNA once dismissed as little more than a genomic nuisance may have helped create the biological opportunities that allowed ants to flourish.
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