‘Jumping genes’ may have helped ants diversify after the dinosaurs’ extinction
The University of Münster says researchers found bursts of activity from mobile DNA elements in the ancestors of major ant groups around 66 million years ago, shortly before those lineages diversified.
TLDR
The University of Münster says researchers compared the genomes of 163 ant species and found that lineages with the most transposable elements—DNA sequences that can move and copy themselves—are also the most species-rich today. The team linked these elements to expanded gene families involved in chemical communication and suggests they may have helped ants diversify.
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