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New tires allow race cars to take tight turns at high speeds. Hind wings give moths and butterflies similar advantages: They are not necessary for basic flight but help these creatures take tight turns to evade predators.

“To escape a predator, you don’t have to be fast, you just have to be more erratic,” said Tom Eisner, a world authority on animal behavior, ecology and evolution and the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Chemical Ecology at Cornell. Eisner is co-author of a study on butterfly wings recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (105: 43).

The study proposes that in the course of evolution, the ability of butterflies to evade predators became linked with bright coloring, as an added protection. In evolutionary terms, gaudy colors are usually a sign to such predators as birds that a prey species has a protective quality, such as a bad taste or great agility, and that chasing them isn’t worth the energy. Anyone who has tried to net a colorful butterfly knows they are hard to catch, but this is the first study to show that a butterfly’s hind wings are responsible for making them evasive.

Eisner and the paper’s lead author, Benjamin Jantzen, (M.S. physics ‘02), a doctoral student in philosophy of science at Carnegie Mellon University, clipped off the hind wings of butterflies and then filmed their flight using two cameras to get three-dimensional views of their flight trajectories; then they analyzed and plotted on a computer the insects’ flight velocity, acceleration, how fast they changed direction, the curvature of their path and more.

They found that clipping the back wings did not affect basic flight, but “we were able to show that removing the hind wings cut their turning acceleration in half,” said Jantzen. The butterfly’s hind wings scoop air and provide extra force to quickly turn when chased.

Eisner added that some butterflies have other qualities that are linked with their bright coloring as a sign for predators not to eat them. Monarchs also taste bad, for example. Other studies have shown that distasteful butterflies are slower and easier to catch. Butterfly wings are also scaly, slipping easily from a bird’s bill, and if the butterfly is caught it’s found to be “mostly wrapper and very little candy,” said Eisner.

“The wings are also colorful advertising for the whole group,” said Jantzen. “The colors say, we are butterflies, don’t bother to chase us, because you won’t catch us.”

Source : http://pressoffice.cornell.edu/

In 1913 Theodore Roosevelt added cartographer to his resume when he and his crew ventured up an unspeakably dangerous and uncharted tributary named the River of Doubt. Now, on a charting expedition of their own, Rockefeller University scientists have completed a journey that has also defied expectation. In work to be published in the January 9 issue of Cell, the team reports the discovery of a new family of receptors in the fly nose, a finding that not only fills in a missing piece in the organizational logic of the insect olfactory system but also unearths one of the most ancient mechanisms that organisms have evolved to smell.

Vosshall, head of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, revamps traditional ideas regarding the roles of ionotropic glutamate receptors, proteins that reside deep in the brain at the synapses. There, they grab glutamate molecules and quickly relay messages from one nerve cell to the next, helping animals learn, move and remember. But Vosshall’s group now shows that insects do not relegate these receptors to the depths of the brain. They also put them to use elsewhere: in the nose.

“On the surface it’s a completely absurd idea,” says Vosshall, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “We know what these proteins do; they sit at the synapse and mediate fast neuronal communication. So the idea that the fly has massively expanded the number of these receptors and positioned them to interact with small molecules in the air seems very strange. But if you think about it, it makes sense. The process is the same, but rather than grabbing small molecules at the synapse, they’re grabbing small molecules from the air.”

The project began two years ago, when Vosshall and Richard Benton, then a postdoc in her lab, noticed a group of six ionotropic glutamate receptor genes while sifting through the fly genome. Although this group was recognized 10 years ago, ever since the genome was sequenced, the genes did not have a known function, in part because it was assumed they must be similar to any other ionotropic glutamate receptor deep in the fly brain. But to Vosshall and Benton, who is now at the Center for Integrative Genomics in Lausanne, Switzerland, that didn’t matter.

Vosshall and her team wondered whether these receptors could in fact represent the “missing” receptors thought to exist in the fly’s “nose” — its two antennae. Each antenna is divided into three types of smell neurons. Scientists have characterized the receptors that detect odors in two of these types but those receptors were mysteriously absent in the third, a swath of territory known as the coeloconic sensilla. “It has been shown that cells in the coeloconic sensilla detect odors,” Vosshall says. “It’s just that we didn’t know how they did it.”

The team showed that these receptors, which the Vosshall lab named ionotropic receptors, do in fact explain how cells in coeloconic sensilla detect odors. First, they showed that they are expressed in complex combinatorial patterns at the sensory end of olfactory neurons where they have access to and can scan the outside world for odors. They then showed that when these receptors are expressed in the cells in the coeloconic sensilla, the cells respond to odors. Finally, the researchers showed that when they plucked a receptor — say one that detects an odor that resembles a mix of grass and honey — out of its native cell and genetically embedded it in a different cell, the new cell would now detect that odor.

Although it is still unclear why insects have developed two sets of chemosensory receptors — olfactory receptors and ionotropic receptors — the work raises questions regarding their evolutionary origin. Ten years ago, researchers at New York University revealed that plants, which detect soil nutrients and chemicals in the air, also express glutamate receptors, suggesting that the ancestral origin of glutamate receptors may have been to detect small molecules in the air, rather than small molecules in the brain.

“In a way, these receptors were very well hidden because everyone assumed that they were extra glutamate receptors that were unlikely to be of interest,” explains Vosshall. “All we did to find them was searched for a gene family of unknown function — and left our preconceived notions aside.”

Source : http://www.rockefeller.edu/

Scientists have tricked bone marrow into releasing extra adult stem cells into the bloodstream, a technique that they hope could one day be used to repair heart damage or mend a broken bone, in a new study published today in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

When a person has a disease or an injury, the bone marrow mobilises different types of stem cells to help repair and regenerate tissue. The new research, by researchers from Imperial College London, shows that it may be possible to boost the body’s ability to repair itself and speed up repair, by using different new drug combinations to put the bone marrow into a state of ‘red alert’ and send specific kinds of stem cells into action.

In the new study, researchers tricked the bone marrow of healthy mice into releasing two types of adult stem cells – mesenchymal stem cells, which can turn into bone and cartilage and that can also suppress the immune system, and endothelial progenitor cells, which can make blood vessels and therefore have the potential to repair damage in the heart.

This study, funded by the British Heart Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, is the first to selectively mobilise mesenchymal stem cells and endothelial progenitor cells from the bone marrow. Previous studies have only been able to mobilise the haematopoietic type of stem cell, which creates new blood cells. This technique is already used in bone marrow transplants in order to boost the numbers of haematopoietic stem cells in a donor’s bloodstream.

The researchers were able to choose which groups of stem cells the bone marrow released, by using two different therapies. Ultimately, the researchers hope that their new technique could be used to repair and regenerate tissue, for example when a person has heart disease or a sports injury, by mobilising the necessary stem cells.

The researchers also hope that they could tackle autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, where the body is attacked by its own immune system, by kicking the mesenchymal stem cells into action. These stem cells are able to suppress the immune system.

Dr Sara Rankin, the corresponding author of the study from the National Heart & Lung Institute at Imperial College London, said: “The body repairs itself all the time. We know that the skin heals over when we cut ourselves and, similarly, inside the body there are stem cells patrolling around and carrying out repair where it’s needed. However, when the damage is severe, there are limits to what the body can do of its own accord.

“We hope that by releasing extra stem cells, as we were able to do in mice in our new study, we could potentially call up extra numbers of whichever stem cells the body needs, in order to boost its ability to mend itself and accelerate the repair process. Further down the line, our work could lead to new treatments to fight various diseases and injuries which work by mobilising a person’s own stem cells from within,” added Dr Rankin.

The scientists reached their conclusions after treating healthy mice with one of two different ‘growth factors’ – proteins that occur naturally in the bone marrow – called VEGF and G-CSF. Following this treatment, the mice were given a new drug called Mozobil.

The researchers found that the bone marrow released around 100 times as many endothelial and mesenchymal stem cells into the bloodstream when the mice were treated with VEGF and Mozobil, compared with mice that received no treatment. Treating the mice with G-CSF and Mozobil mobilised the haematopoietic stem cells – this treatment is already used in bone marrow transplantation.

The researchers now want to investigate whether releasing repair stem cells into the blood really does accelerate the rate and degree of tissue regeneration in mice that have had a heart attack. Depending on the outcome of this work, they hope to conduct clinical trials of the new drug combinations in humans within the next ten years.

The researchers are also keen to explore whether ageing or having a disease affects the bone marrow’s ability to produce different kinds of adult stem cells. They want to investigate if the new technique might help to reinvigorate the body’s repair mechanisms in older people, to help them fight disease and injury.

Source : http://www.imperial.ac.uk/press

Ten years ago, the Chinese National Human Genome Center at Shanghai (South Center, hereafter) was established in the Zhangjiang HiTech Park of Pudong District in Shanghai. To commemorate this important event, which marks the beginning of the Genomics Era in China, we specially organize a series of mini-reviews for this special issue. We hope that this effort may draw the attention of the Chinese life science research workers to collectively recall the short but fruitful history of human genome project and coordinately explore the trend and goal of the future development of this academic discipline in China.

As early as in the late 1980s, the Chinese High Technology Research and Development Program, which is also known as the 863 Program, funded the scientists of Fudan University (in Shanghai) to construct DNA jumping library for human genetic disease related physical mapping. It was probably the very first human genome related research project supported by a national funding agency. After 1991, Fudan University, Ruijin Hospital and the Cancer Research Institute in Shanghai were all funded by the 863 Program in succession, to develop genomics technology by means of molecular genetics, and to study genetic diseases including cancer by means of medical genetics. Meanwhile, Beijing scientists such as those in the Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences also independently developed the rare cutter restriction enzymes such as Not I and Sfi I to facilitate the analysis of large DNA fragments of human genome, aiming at physical map construction. These early efforts and progress became truly “the spark of a fire” and the human genome research was thus initiated.

In the early 1990s, focusing on the total sequencing and annotation of the complete human genome as its core mission, the Human Genome Project (HGP) was initiated under the leadership of the U.S.A. However, the initial response in China was, instead, to participate in the International Rice Genome Project led by Japan. The reasons behind were obvious. First of all, for China, the largest developing country of the world, food security is of the primary concern and rice is the major staple food for Chinese people. Second, rice, a diploid crop, with its relatively small genome size (about 400 Mb), is a nice model of the monocotyledon plants. Third, over the years, the Chinese scientists had accumulated a great deal of experiences in the basic and applied research of rice, and achieved significant progress in rice breeding and physiology studies, particularly, for the hybrid rice, a model of “Green Revolution”. Inspired by these ideas, both the central and the Shanghai municipal governments supported the DNA sequencing expert HONG Guo-Fan, who just returned back to China from Sanger’s laboratory, to initiate the rice genome project in 1992 and the Chinese efforts in rice genome sequencing and research were thus, set out on its long journey.

Meanwhile, the far-sighted Chinese medical geneticists were still promoting the initiation of a human genome project in China. Academician WU Min, at that time, the director of the Department of Life Sciences, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), strongly recommended the NSFC committee to initiate some major projects for human genome research. His efforts were supported by the academician LIANG Dong-Cai, Deputy Director of the NSFC Committee and of the Department of Life Sciences, and thus, the first major human genome project in China was funded to study the genetic variations among the 56 Chinese nationalities. Meanwhile, the Chinese scientists working in the field of medical genetics gradually accepted the concept of genomics, and by applying the genomics technology, they carried out a series of research and made significant breakthroughs in the study and identification of disease associated genes, particularly the cloning and identification of genes related to leukemia, solid tumors (including liver cancer, colorectal cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer) and genetic diseases (such as deaf). Furthermore, substantial progresses were made in the development of technologies for human genome genotyping and genetic polymorphism detection, as well as for expressed sequence tag (EST) and full-length cDNA cloning and sequencing. All these achievements greatly strengthened the Chinese scientists’ confidence and encouraged them to further explore the human genome. On the other hand, they made people perceive and appreciate the Chinese human genetic resources, for their abundance in population (more than 1 billion) with 56 nationalities and numerous relatively isolated ethnic groups. If we actively collect and utilize the resources with intelligence in research, along with the HGP, we will be able to and obligatory to make great contributions to the course of human health, especially to the oriental people for the medical purpose.

With this scientific and historical background, in July 1997, the academician TAN Jia-Zhen petitioned the central government, appealing for the protection of the Chinese genetic resources, and proposed to establish the national human genome center to speed up the human genome research in China. This petition attracted great attention from the Party Central Committee and the State Council. JIANG Ze-Min, the General Secretary of the Party and the President of the People’s Republic of China, wrote: “One, who did not think far enough ahead, inevitably may have trouble right-a-way. We have to cherish our genetic resources.” Thus, the Shanghai Human Genome Research Center, co-sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Government, Pudong District, Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, and six research institutions in Shanghai, was founded on March 4, 1998. On October 20, 1998, the center was officially inaugurated as the Chinese National Human Genome Center at Shanghai (abbreviated as the South Center), thus becoming the first national research center located in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park of Pudong District. The academician CHEN Zhu has served as the director of the center ever since, while ZHAO Guo-Ping acted as the executive director of the center after 2002. At the same time, the National Human Genome Center at Beijing (the North Center) was established with the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Beijing Municipal Government, and the academician QIANG Bo-Qin served as the director. The “Huada” (Chinese Giant/Wash U) Genome Center, directed by YANG Huan-Ming, was also established by the Institute of Genetics, CAS. Together with the previously established National Gene Research Center, which was established by the joint efforts of both CAS and the Shanghai Municipality for rice genome research, a basic genomics sequencing and research framework formed in China, with Beijing and Shanghai each equipped with two genome centers. The connection between the human genome project and the rice genome project was greatly promoted, which eventually facilitated the success of the rice genome project.

The 9th National Five-Year Plan (1996-2000) witnessed the rise, the struggle and the success of the Chinese genomic research. In the early stage of the 9th Five-Year Plan, the scientific committee of the 863 Program thoroughly assessed the international trend of research related to human health and diseases and promptly de- termined to set up a “key project” for human genome research, and soon upgraded it as a “major project”. The committee set up a “two 1%” goal with respect to the genomic sequencing and the full-length cDNA identification, respectively, and coordinated the efforts of Shanghai and Beijing local government to set up the national human genome research centers for more efficient implementation. After acquiring the “one percent” share of human genome sequencing, the committee, together with CAS, promptly reinforced the support for the sequencing project. Coordinately, the National Key Basic Research Program, known as the 973 Program, started a disease genomics project in 1998 led by the academicians CHEN Zhu and QIANG Bo-Qin. The 973 Program continued to fund the project in 2004 under the title of “Systems Biology for the Multi-gene Complex Diseases” coordinated by CHEN Zhu.

The Chinese human genome project fully exemplified the “Chinese characteristics”. With respect to the project design, besides the above-mentioned “two one percent”, it reinforced the research upon disease genomics and focused on the establishment of the disease sample/information collecting network along with the continuous efforts in cloning and identification of disease related genes by employing human genetic resources from China and abroad. The human health oriented functional genomics research, including bioinformatics, transcriptomics, proteomics, structural genomics and other technology platforms, such as model animals, biochip constructions, etc., were all developed along with the human genomic sequencing project in the late 1990s. Making full use of the technology and resource advantages of the human genome research helped to extend the genomic sequencing and related research to plants other than rice, microorganisms (pathologens for medicine and agriculture or important industry bacteria), insects (silkworm) and parasites (Schistosoma japonicum). In 2006, the original and assembled genomic sequence data of S. japonicum was registered in and released from a public bioinformatics database (http://biodb.sgst.cn) . operated by the Shanghai Bioinformation Technology Development Center, for sharing with the international Schistosoma mansoni consortium. This action indicated that genomic information analysis technology had set out an important step forward in merging with the international GeneBank. In summary, although China started late in genomic sequencing, it has caught up with the international wave in functional genomics, and the achievements of which effectively enhanced the life science research and biotechnology development in China.

With respect to funding policy and the establishment of platform centers, China adopted the international model initially — organizing grand scientific program/projects and establishing genome centers for implementation. On the other hand, based on the characteristics of funding and administration systems in China, various kinds of operation models for those genome centers were explored in order to encourage all sections of the governmental institutions to offer as much as possible funds through various channels. By adopting these multiple funding patterns under the guidance of the national projects, the Chinese scientists mobilized as much enthusiasm from the society as possible and efficiently integrated the national and local, the governmental and social resources and secured the development of the projects and centers. Take the South Center as an example. During the ten years period since its establishment, in the process of completing a series of international and national key genome projects, the original mixed research team of the center was tempered, and the abilities of the team members were improved. Meanwhile, influenced by the center, an array of “omics” and systems biomedicine research centers were gradually set up in the Zhangjiang HiTech Park of Shanghai. Collaborating with these research centers, the South Center has been accomplishing its transformation from a platform technology center focusing on sequencing and genotyping services to a research center engaged in the cutting-edge innovation on molecular targets identification and characterization for human health and diseases and the translational research on genomics, molecular genetics and systems biomedicine. Meanwhile, through the constant improvement of its comprehensive competitiveness in science and technology innovation, the service function of this systems biology research platform is becoming more substantial, and the center continues to promote the formation and transformation of intellectual property based on the biomedicine research achievements.

As a matter of fact, within the past ten years, the progress of genomics in China was a sort of frogleap development in terms of scale, quality, interdisciplinarity, organization and international collaboration. The genomics research of human and rice, the two national major scientific projects, together with a series of genomic sequencing and functional genomics analyses, constitutes an unprecedented development in life science research and biotechnology development in China. For decades, particularly from the early 1950s to the 1970s, genetics and molecular genetics were sort of lagging in China, largely due to the influences of Lysenkonism in the 1950-1960s and then the hit by “culture revolution” in the 1960-1970s. Fortunately, in this difficult period, with the cooperation of Chinese biologists and chemists, protein and nucleic acid chemistry gained a rapid development. The chemical synthesis and 3D structure determination of bovine insulin and the chemical synthesis of yeast alanine-tRNA were land marker achievements recorded in the scientific history.

In contrast to the situation in China, from the 1960s to the 1980s, life science worldwide was led by genetics and molecular biology, i.e., studying DNA/RNA and the flow of genetic information (central dogma), whereas in China these disciplines were severely hampered, with few scientists such as Prof. TAN Jia-Zhen to be the only leading scientist to defend Morgan’s theory for a long time. That should be one of the reasons why China’s life science was largely behind the world development trend for decades. However, in the early 1990s, with the incoming “scientific spring”, Chinese life scientists grasped the historical opportunity of HGP to catch up with the world cutting-edge life science and realized a frogleap forward.

For the first time, the concept of “big science” was introduced into the Chinese life science community thanks to HGP. The “big sciences” are grand scientific research programs guided with a comprehensive and long-term objective to tackle the major scientific problems related to the development of human and human society. They aimed to gather important scientific data and to make significant scientific discoveries with the aid of multi-disciplinary studies and integrated technologies. A strong link between big and small sciences was set up, in that in the genomic era, no body doing small science related to molecular biology, biochemistry and cell biology won’t benefit from the dataset generated by human (and other) genomic studies. For instance, just in Shanghai, biologists engaging in molecular biology studies of mammalian reproductive system, signal transduction, immunology, microbiology, central nerve system, genetic evolution, leukemia pathogenesis and so on, were all somehow involved in genomics work to certain extent. The rise of other molecular “omics” further strengthened the linkage of “big science” and “small science”. For such a tremendous impact of this linkage upon life science research and the development of biotechnology, it is truly a revolution.

Human genome study in China initiated a new phase of interdisciplinarity in the history of life science in China. The rise of genomics relied on its integration with other academic disciplines, particularly in the following three areas. First, the integration with technology science has caused several rounds of revolution in DNA sequencing technology in the past 40 years, which directly led the first sequencing trial of 4 bases of the ? phage cos to the current program of sequencing the genomes of a thousand individuals. Second, the integration with computational science and computer technology brought about bioinformatics, which supported the system of data collection, administration, annotation, distribution, and services for genome researches; and the technology platform for data analysis was also thus established. Third, the integration with mathematics and statistics led to the rise of computational biology, which makes full use of the genomic data and the data generated by other “omics” and then, analyzes them with various kinds of biological data. It provides experimental scientists with hypotheses/models for systems biology research. Actually, mainly promoted by bioinformatics and computational biology, laws of a complex life system can now be deciphered and understood.

Human genomic research, with the magnitude of “big science “and “big project” and unprecedented dynamics of development, facilitated, in an extraordinary way, the domestic and international collaboration. HGP in China set a good example for “liberation of mind” in the life science fields. It makes the Chinese biologists to understand what the meaning of “leading the scientific frontier” is and what the “national strategic demand” is. It also inspired the Chinese biologists to challenge the important scientific problems and to participate in the international collaboration and competition. What’s more, it teaches the Chinese biologists how to organize scientific teams for major scientific research projects and how to efficiently coordinate the nation-wide research efforts. In the early 1990s, in the mind of the leaders of Chinese human genome research, a consensus had been reached, that is, “In the next century, China will be one of the leading countries in genomics and life science. If we do not start the genomics program today, we are going to lose the right of voice in 10 years. Though we start from small, we shall harvest huge.” To be honest, with ten years of persistent struggle and hard working, we keep our words and have mostly realized these objectives.

To recall the history is for a better development in the future. After the completion of the genomic sequencing and the HapMap project, the international HGP has entered an assault-fortified position aiming at studying the genetic mechanisms of human diseases and other phenotypes. The initiation of HGP is due to the lesson learnt from the failure of the cancer project in the Kennedy era of the 1960s, while the success of HGP also depends on its influence upon tackling cancer and other complex human diseases. Meanwhile, facilitated by the strategic plan of big sciences, the innovation of science and technology and their industrialization, as well as the fast progress in interdisciplinary studies such as bioinformatics, have prepared the ground for a new “great frogleap”. Some of the minireviews published in this issue analyze the future trend of genomics research and its scientific impact based on the technical perspectives of genomic sequencing, genotyping and functional genomics. While the others present the significant change of research strategy and technology brought in by the HGP with respect to liver cancer (hepatocarcinoma), immunology, and medical, environmental and industrial microbiology. These reviews reflect the progress we have achieved, showing that, compared with the situation ten years ago, our research capability, technology experience, and academic intelligence have all been significantly improved. Meanwhile, we are confronted with more difficult challenges than ten years ago. If we can learn from the past experience, focus on a correct direction, move forward bravely but with caution, carefully organize and integrate the research teams, improve the management with both democracy and discipline, and work hard to explore the scientific truth, we shall be able to make faster and greater progress. On the other hand, if we arrogantly enjoy the past but ignore the new challenge, or underestimate our capabilities and feel afraid of innovation, it is possible that we may miss the good opportunities, as said in this old Chinese proverb, “Ninety miles is only half way of a hundred-mile journey”.

Confucius once said: “The passage of time is just like the flow of the River, which goes on day and night, for ever”. The past glories are the momentum for our new journey, while the lessons of the past may teach us to be smarter. China, a developing socialist country rising from a hundred years of weakness and poverty, needs genomics to make historic contributions to the rejuvenation of the nation.

Source : http://zh.scichina.com/english/

In ant society, workers normally give up reproducing themselves to care for their queen’s offspring, who are their brothers and sisters. When workers try to cheat and have their own kids in the queen’s presence, their peers swiftly attack and physically restrain them from reproducing.

Now, a new study published online on January 8th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, explains just how the cheaters get caught red-handed. Experimental evidence shows that chemical hydrocarbons produced by those sneaky sorts are a dead giveaway of their fertility status.

The findings represent the first direct evidence that cuticular hydrocarbons are the informational basis for the ants’ reproductive policing, said Jürgen Liebig of Arizona State University.

Earlier studies had suggested that other aspects of reproduction in insect societies are regulated through cuticular hydrocarbon signals. Liebig’s team and others showed that the chemical profiles are correlated with fertility in queens and workers in many species of ants, some wasps, and bees. They also found that workers use hydrocarbons to discriminate between eggs laid by workers and queens. The chemicals are used in other contexts as well, including nestmate recognition and sexual attraction.

Given all the evidence that hydrocarbon profiles play important roles in communication, Liebig and colleagues had a strong suspicion that they would also help catch reproductive cheaters.

To test the idea in one ant species (Aphaenogaster cockerelli), Liebig and Adrian Smith, also at Arizona State, mimicked reproductive cheaters by applying a synthetic compound typical of fertile individuals on non-reproductive workers. That treatment attracted nestmate aggression in colonies where a queen was present, they report. As expected, it failed to do so in colonies without a queen where workers had begun to reproduce.

Liebig thinks the cuticular hydrocarbons are an “inherently reliable signal” because the ants can’t separate their own hydrocarbons from those of their eggs. Masking their own fertility would mean displaying the chemicals of a worker, but their eggs are best hidden if they seem like those of the queen. But they can’t have it both ways, he says.

This system for catching cheaters plays an important role in maintaining harmony in the ant world, Liebig said, and it sets an example that we might learn from ourselves.

” The idea that social harmony is dependent on strict systems to prevent and punish cheating individuals seems to apply to most successful societies,” he said. “Understanding what mechanisms are employed within ant societies, which are perhaps the most successful and widespread among all animals, provides a model for understanding the fundamental basis of successful cooperation.”

Source : http://www.cellpress.com/