{"99271":{"#nid":"99271","#data":{"type":"news","title":"DNA MODIFICATIONS SPECIFY CASTES IN HONEYBEES","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESocial insects, such as ants, bees, wasps, and termites, form cooperative societies and display the most advanced levels of social behavior.  Insect societies dominate terrestrial ecosystems because they consist of distinct queen and worker castes.  Queens and workers engage in different types of behaviors, which allow the society to function harmoniously and efficiently.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENavin Elango, Brendan Hunt, Michael Goodisman, and Soojin Yi of the School of Biology have made progress into understanding the genetic basis of the caste system in the social honeybee \u003Cem\u003EApis mellifera\u003C\/em\u003E.  In work published in the July 7th issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Elango et al. discovered that honeybee genes affecting caste development show specific modifications, called \u0027DNA methylation\u0027.  This indicates that caste formation may be controlled by simple molecular mechanisms.  This research provides insights into the molecular basis underlying social behavior and helps explain how genomes evolve.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Social insects, such as ants, bees, wasps, and termites, form cooperative societies and display the most advanced levels of social behavior.  Insect societies dominate terrestrial ecosystems because they consist of distinct queen and worker castes.  Queens and workers engage in different types of behaviors, which allow the society to function harmoniously and efficiently.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"DNA MODIFICATIONS SPECIFY CASTES IN HONEYBEES"}],"uid":"27245","created_gmt":"2009-07-17 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2022-05-26 17:09:36","author":"Troy Hilley","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2009-07-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2009-07-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"99281":{"id":"99281","type":"image","title":"DNA MODIFICATIONS SPECIFY CASTES IN HONEYBEES","body":null,"created":"1449178150","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:29:10","changed":"1475894715","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:15"}},"media_ids":["99281"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.yilab.gatech.edu\/","title":"Yi Lab"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.goodismanlab.biology.gatech.edu\/","title":"Goodisman Research Group"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/106\/27\/11206","title":"PNAS"}],"groups":[{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Biology - Biology\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["admin@biology.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}