Desplan Explains Jumping Ant Caste Plasticity and Lifespan Extension at CSHL Lecture

In a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Leading Strand lecture, Desplan described how Harpegnathos jumping ant workers can duel their way to becoming reproductive gamergates after the queen dies, extending lifespan from about 7 months to roughly 4 years, reversibly. He explained that high insulin activates MAPK to promote egg laying while the ovarian anti-insulin protein Imp-L2 blocks the AKT/FOXO ageing pathway, and that queen pheromones suppress worker promotion. He also noted ants carry far more olfactory receptors than humans, with a single neuron expressing about 50 receptors.