Objective
Societies of ants, bees, and wasps achieve a highly efficient division of labour by matching the morphology, physiology, life-history, and behaviour of each female to her role in the colony. Females thus occur in distinct castes (e.g. workers and queens). Castes are an example of polyphenism: the caste fate of developing larvae does not depend on their genotype, but is determined by their environment.
Therefore, caste differentiation must involve the differential expression of genes that are shared by all castes. Identifying caste-specific patterns of gene expression thus offers a special opportunity to study the generation of adaptive morphological variation by a fundamental biological process, and is the key to profound understanding of the evolution of sociality.
Because of the recent development of new methods (especially microarrays) for identifying differentially expressed genes, a burst of research on caste differentiation is predicted. I propose to study caste-specific gene expression in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, with a large ( and gt;20,000 clones) spotted cDNA microarray that was recently developed, sequenced, and annotated at the prospective host institute, the group of Prof. L. Keller at the University of Lausanne. S. invicta is the second social insect species (after the honeybee) and the first ant species for which a large microarray has become available. I will study differential gene expression at three levels: in queen vs. worker larvae; in minor vs. major worker larvae; and in the brai n of (equally old) foragers and brood care workers.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology entomology apidology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP6-2005-MOBILITY-5
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
LAUSANNE
Switzerland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.