Magda Patynska at Discover Wildlife:
By analysing and comparing the genomes of 163 ant species from 12 of the 16 ant subfamilies living today, the researchers were able to reconstruct the evolutionary history of these animals over the past 100 million years.
The analysis revealed that ants benefited from so-called transposable elements in their DNA, often referred to as ‘jumping genes’. These are DNA sequences that can move and replicate within a genome. For a long time, science regarded them as ‘genomic parasites’ – similar to viruses, they were thought to multiply in the genome without benefiting the host and, in the worst case, cause diseases.
Now, ‘jumping genes’ are increasingly being recognised as engines of evolutionary innovation. According to the new study, those ant lineages carrying the most transposable elements in their genomes are also the most species-rich today.
More here.
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