Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Robert Hanus - Chemistry of social insects

Queens of social insects are endowed with an extraordinary longevity, sometimes reaching up to several decades. At the same time, they remain highly fertile over the long lifespan, being thus a striking exception to the well-established trade-off relationship between longevity and fecundity. Queens (and kings) of termites represent an excellent and understudied model in this respect.

The project addresses mechanistic aspects of termite queen and king longevity at the proximate level (cell and tissue longevity) as well as endocrine control allowing the extended lifespan and a high fecundity at a time. The techniques used in the project include traditional approaches of molecular genetics, reverse genetics, fluorescence/confocal microscopy, assembly and interpretation of next generation sequencing data.