Extended Data Fig. 4: Early larval caste differentiation in ants.
From: Canalized gene expression during development mediates caste differentiation in ants
a, Tissue-specific relative expression levels for the conserved caste-biased DEGs in early larvae, shown separately for gyne-biased (rows marked in red) and worker-biased (blue) genes. Heatmap brightness of cells reflects tissue specificity, the percentage of transcripts from targeted tissues (columns), ranging from 0% (black) to 100% (yellow). These relative abundances, based on the larval gene expression atlas of Drosophila, show that the gyne-biased DEGs in the early larval stages were mainly expressed in the midgut, fat body, and tracheal tissues, while the worker-biased DEGs were mainly expressed in the brain and central nervous system. b, Expression profiles of circadian clock-controlled protein (daywake), juvenile hormone acid O-methyltransferase-like (jhamt-like) and hexamerin among gynes and workers of the two ant species as larvae grow. All three genes are associated with the juvenile hormone signalling pathway and are significantly differentially expressed between castes in 2nd and 3rd instar larvae. Expression profiles are plotted against body length (log scale) to show expression dynamics as larvae grow in body length. c, DAPI staining of a representative early 3rd instar worker larva and a representative 2nd instar gyne larva of M. pharaonis. These animals display similar body size but wing discs (arrows) were only visible in the gyne larvae, indicating that caste determination and differentiation has already been initiated well before this early larval stage.
