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Science 8 May 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5928, p. 758
DOI: 10.1126/science.1170660
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Brevia

A Gene Necessary for Reproductive Suppression in Termites

Judith Korb,1,2,* Tobias Weil,2,3,* Katharina Hoffmann,1 Kevin R. Foster,4 Michael Rehli3

A major transition in evolution is the origin of a division between reproduction and work among individuals. Nowhere is this divide more striking than in social insects, where workers rarely produce offspring even though they are often capable of reproduction should the queen or king die. The molecular mechanisms that control worker reproduction remain largely unknown. We used a combination of behavioral assays and RNA interference (RNAi) to identify a gene required for the reproductive division of labor between the queen and the workers.

1 Behavioral Biology, University of Osnabrueck, Barbarastrasse 11, D-49076 Osnabrueck, Germany.
2 Biologie I, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstrasse, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany.
3 Department of Hematology, University Hospital Regensburg, D-93042 Regensburg, Germany.
4 Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, Bauer Laboratory, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: judith.korb{at}biologie.uni-osnabrueck.de (J.K.); weil.tobias{at}web.de (T.W.)

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Beyond cuticular hydrocarbons: evidence of proteinaceous secretion specific to termite kings and queens.
R. Hanus, V. Vrkoslav, I. Hrdy, J. Cvacka, and J. Sobotnik (2009)
Proc R Soc B
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