Dethroning a queen can be as easy as silencing a single gene, at least in a colony of lab termites, that is.
In a recent German study, worker termites started battling for the throne and acting as if their queen were dead when researchers disabled her Neofem2 gene. Scientists believe this discovery could hold the answer to how honeybee, ant and other “ultrasocial creature” queens keep their kingdoms in check.
Source: Science News
Image byVelo Steve, licensed underCreative Commons.