Premium
Ant genomics: strength and diversity in numbers
Author(s) -
SMITH CHRISTOPHER D.,
SMITH CHRISTOPHER R.,
MUELLER ULRICH,
GADAU JÜRGEN
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2009.04438.x
Subject(s) - biology , genome , genomics , evolutionary biology , identification (biology) , annotation , computational biology , diversity (politics) , data science , ant , ant colony , genome project , comparative genomics , ecology , genetics , gene , computer science , artificial intelligence , ant colony optimization algorithms , sociology , anthropology
A recent workshop held at the Arizona State University Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity gathered over 50 prominent researchers from around the globe to discuss the development of genomic resources for several ant species. Ants play crucial roles in many ecological niches and the sequencing of several ant genomes promises to elucidate topics ranging from the genetic basis for social complexity, longevity and behaviour to systems biology and the identification of novel antimicrobial compounds. Unlike other species, most ant genomes are being generated by individual labs and small collaborations without the annotation and computational resources that support prominent model organism genome databases such those for the fruitfly and roundworm. Attendees summarized their current progress and future plans for several ant genomes and discussed how best to coordinate the analysis and annotation of ant sequences to benefit the broad research interests of the social insect community.