Nature of a Greenbeard Gene in the Fire Ant

Project description

Insights into the evolutionary mechanisms of social behaviour

Theory predicts that altruistic behaviours should occur only among related individuals. Surprisingly, the so-called Green-beard effect lead genetically unrelated individuals to cooperate as long as they share the same cooperation locus. The key objective of the EU-funded GreenAnt project is to study a Green-beard genetic element – the Social b supergene – in the fire ant, where carriers kill non-bearer queens. Researchers are interested to understand the genetic basis of the Green-beard effect in this species, and how it is maintained and spread. Results will provide fundamental insight into the evolutionary mechanisms of social behaviour.

Fields of science

• natural sciences › biological sciences › evolutionary biology
• natural sciences › biological sciences › genetics › genomes
• natural sciences › biological sciences › molecular biology › molecular evolution

Programme(s)

• H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme
• H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility

Topic(s)

• MSCA-IF-2018 - Individual Fellowships

Call for proposal

H2020-MSCA-IF-2018

See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF

Coordinator

UNIVERSITE DE LAUSANNE

Net EU contribution

€ 203 149,44

Address

Quartier Unil-centre Bâtiment Unicentre
1015 Lausanne
Switzerland

Region

Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera › Région lémanique › Vaud

Activity type

Higher or Secondary Education Establishments

Links

Other funding

€ 0,00