The evolution of caste determination systems in termites

白蚁每年在澳大利亚造成约10亿美元的损失。到目前为止，所有这些破坏都来自本地物种，但贪婪的外来物种入侵的威胁不断存在。这个项目将提供有关白蚁产生独特的工人和皇家种姓的机制的基本知识，以及通过幼年繁殖产生殖民地萌芽的方式。这将为新的和高度具体的白蚁防治方法，目标种姓确定的基础。不育的、利他的种姓的存在给达尔文提出了一个著名的难题。这个项目是开创性的，因为它将提供解释这个难题（亲缘选择）的理论和分子生物学之间的关键联系。

Termites cause around a billion dollars of damage in Australia each year. To date, all this damage is from native species, but there is the constant threat of invasion by voracious exotics. This project will provide fundamental knowledge on the mechanism termites use to produce the distinctive worker and royal castes, and on the way colony budding arises via juvenile reproduction. This will provide the basis for novel and highly specific termite control methods that target caste determination. The existence of sterile, altruistic castes famously posed a conundrum for Darwin. This project is ground-breaking because it will provide the critical link between the theory that explains the puzzle (kin selection) and molecular biology.