Fig. 4: Freja and other major caste canalizing genes in M. pharaonis.
From: Canalized gene expression during development mediates caste differentiation in ants
a, Overall gene-specific canalization scores (left) with the ten most strongly gyne-biased (top centre) and worker-biased canalized genes (bottom centre) visualized in heatmaps and colour coded by their tissue expression in D. melanogaster (right). b, HCR-FISH staining of vasa (middle, green) and the top canalized gene, Freja (right, yellow) in an adult gyne ovariole (left), showing Freja expression in ovarian follicle cells. c, Compared to GFP-RNAi controls (black, n = 51), Freja-RNAi-treated third instar gyne larvae (red, n = 58) produced pupae with reduced antennal scape length and head width (two-sided t-tests; d.f. = 102.47 and 93.63 and t = −5.43 and −5.61, respectively; both P < 10−6; left) and more frequent abnormal wing development or complete lack of wings (16/66, 24.2%) compared to the control group (4/55, 7.3%) (P = 0.01; two-sided Fisher exact test; right). d, Compared to GFP-RNAi controls (n = 34), Freja-RNAi-treated adult gynes (n = 33) induced lower mass and number of oocytes (two-sided t-tests; d.f. = 55.31 and 57.51, t = −2.40 and −3.03 and P = 0.02 and 0.004, respectively; Extended Data Fig. 7e), impairing overall reproductive functionality. The box plot shows the median (centre line), 25% and 75% quartiles (boxes), outermost values (whiskers) and data points (overlapping with boxes and whiskers).
