Lumi Viljakainen

TL;DR: Key findings include the identification of a functional DNA methylation tool kit; hymenopteran-specific genes including diverse venoms; lateral gene transfers among Pox viruses, Wolbachia, and Nasonia; and the rapid evolution of genes involved in nuclear-mitochondrial interactions that are implicated in speciation.

TL;DR: The draft genome sequence of a particularly widespread and well-studied species, the invasive Argentine ant, is reported, which was accomplished using a combination of 454 and Illumina sequencing and community-based funding rather than federal grant support.

TL;DR: Gene networks involved in generating key differences between the queen and worker castes show signatures of increased methylation and suggest that ants and bees may have independently co-opted the same gene regulatory mechanisms for reproductive division of labor.

TL;DR: Following recent reports of genome sequences from other insects that engage in symbioses with beneficial microbes, the A. cephalotes genome provides new insights into the symbiotic lifestyle of this ant and advances the understanding of host–microbe symbioss.

TL;DR: While the "socio-genomes" of ants and the honeybee are broadly characterized by a pervasive pattern of divergence in gene composition and regulation, they preserve lineage-specific regulatory features linked to eusociality, it is proposed that changes in gene regulation played a key role in the origins of insect eussociality.