scholarly journals Social wasps repair emergent topological defects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shivani Krishna ◽  
Apoorva Gopinath ◽  
Somendra M. Bhattacharjee
Keyword(s):  
Short Range ◽  
Amorphous Materials ◽  
Social Insect ◽  
Pair Correlation ◽  
Orientational Order ◽  
Topological Defects ◽  
Social Wasps ◽  
Paper Wasp ◽  
Wasp Species

Social insects have evolved a variety of architectural formations. Bees and wasps are well known for their ability to achieve compact structures by building hexagonal cells. Polistes wattii, an open nesting paper wasp species, builds planar hexagonal structures. Here, using the pair correlation function approach, we show that their nests exhibit short-range hexagonal order but no long-range order akin to amorphous materials. Hexagonal orientational order was well preserved globally. We also show the presence of emergent topological defects such as disclination pairs (pentagon-heptagon dipoles), Stone-Wales quadrupoles, and other higher-order defects and discuss how these defects were fixed in the nest, thereby restoring order. Furthermore, we suggest the possible role of such defects in shaping nesting architectures of other social insect species.

scholarly journals Expansion and accelerated evolution of 9-exon odorant receptors in Polistes paper wasps

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew W Legan ◽  
Christopher M Jernigan ◽  
Sara E Miller ◽  
Matthieu F Fuchs ◽  
Michael J Sheehan
Keyword(s):  
Gene Family ◽  
Odorant Receptor ◽  
Receptor Gene ◽  
Gene Tree ◽  
Gene Family Evolution ◽  
Paper Wasp ◽  
Gene Copy ◽  
Evolutionary Divergence ◽  
Wasp Species ◽  
Or Gene

Abstract Independent origins of sociality in bees and ants are associated with independent expansions of particular odorant receptor (OR) gene subfamilies. In ants, one clade within the OR gene family, the 9-exon subfamily, has dramatically expanded. These receptors detect cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), key social signaling molecules in insects. It is unclear to what extent 9-exon OR subfamily expansion is associated with the independent evolution of sociality across Hymenoptera, warranting studies of taxa with independently derived social behavior. Here we describe odorant receptor gene family evolution in the northern paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus, and compare it to four additional paper wasp species spanning ∼40 million years of evolutionary divergence. We find 200 putatively functional OR genes in P. fuscatus, matching predictions from neuroanatomy, and more than half of these are in the 9-exon subfamily. Most OR gene expansions are tandemly arrayed at orthologous loci in Polistes genomes, and microsynteny analysis shows species-specific gain and loss of 9-exon ORs within tandem arrays. There is evidence of episodic positive diversifying selection shaping ORs in expanded subfamilies. Values of omega (d  N/dS) are higher among 9-exon ORs compared to other OR subfamilies. Within the Polistes OR gene tree, branches in the 9-exon OR clade experience relaxed negative (purifying) selection relative to other branches in the tree. Patterns of OR evolution within Polistes are consistent with 9-exon OR function in CHC perception by combinatorial coding, with both natural selection and neutral drift contributing to interspecies differences in gene copy number and sequence.

scholarly journals Evolution of the hedgehog Gene Family

Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
pp. 965-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudhir Kumar ◽  
Kristi A Balczarek ◽  
Zhi-Chun Lai
Keyword(s):  
Intercellular Communication ◽  
Short Range ◽  
Gene Duplications ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Amino Terminal ◽  
Terminal Fragment ◽  
Carboxyl Terminal ◽  
Multicellular Organisms ◽  
Amino Terminal Fragment

Abstract Effective intercellular communication is an important feature in the development of multicellular organisms. Secreted hedgehog (hh) protein is essential for both long- and short-range cellular signaling required for body pattern formation in animals. In a molecular evolutionary study, we find that the vertebrate homologs of the Drosophila hh gene arose by two gene duplications: the first gave rise to Desert hh, whereas the second produced the Indian and Sonic hh genes. Both duplications occurred before the emergence of vertebrates and probably before the evolution of chordates. The amino-terminal fragment of the hh precursor, crucial in long- and short-range intercellular communication, evolves two to four times slower than the carboxyl-terminal fragment in both Drosophila hh and its vertebrate homologues, suggesting conservation of mechanism of hh action in animals. A majority of amino acid substitutions in the amino- and carboxyl-terminal fragments are conservative, but the carboxyl-terminal domain has undergone extensive insertion-deletion events while maintaining its autocleavage protease activity. Our results point to similarity of evolutionary constraints among sites of Drosophila and vertebrate hh homologs and suggest some future directions for understanding the role of hh genes in the evolution of developmental complexity in animals.

scholarly journals Short-range structure, the role of bismuth and property-structure correlations in bismuth borate glasses

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christos P.E. Varsamis ◽  
Nikos Makris ◽  
Christina Valvi ◽  
E. I. Kamitsos
Keyword(s):  
Short Range ◽  
Composition Range ◽  
Reflectance Spectra ◽  
Borate Glasses ◽  
Infrared Reflectance ◽  
Bismuth Borate ◽  
Splat Quenching ◽  
Structure Correlations ◽  
Short Range Structure

Bismuth-containing borate glasses, xBi2O3-(1-x)B2O3, were synthesized in the broad composition range 0.20≤x≤0.80 by melting in Pt crucibles and splat-quenching between two metal blocks. Infrared reflectance spectra, measured in the range...

GLASS STABILITY EFFECT OF IRON OXIDE ADDED TO ALKALINE EARTH BORATE GLASSES

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (05) ◽  
pp. 731-736
Author(s):  
V. SIMON ◽  
P. RIEDL ◽  
E. TATARU
Keyword(s):  
Iron Oxide ◽  
Short Range ◽  
Alkaline Earth ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Opposite Effect ◽  
Glass Stability ◽  
Intermediate Range Order ◽  
Alkaline Earths ◽  
Stability Effect

Glass stability and the structural role of iron oxide in x Fe 2 O 3(100-x)[ B 2 O 3– MO ] systems ( M=Ca , Sr or Ba , 0≤x≤30 mol%) were estimated from differential thermal analysis. The results suggest structural changes characteristic for the transition from short range to intermediate range order as the cationic field strength of the alkaline earths increases. In contrast, the iron addition has an opposite effect and determines a higher glass stability of these systems.

scholarly journals X-Ray and Neutron Diffraction of Amorphous Nickel-Zirconium-Alloys as Prepared in Different Ways

1991 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 491-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Schultz ◽  
P. Lamparter ◽  
S. Steeb
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Diffraction ◽  
Short Range ◽  
Melt Spinning ◽  
Short Range Order ◽  
Pair Correlation ◽  
Zirconium Alloys ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Coordination Numbers ◽  
Structure Factors ◽  
The One

AbstractThe structure of amorphous NiχZr100-χ-alloys (Χ= 30, 31, 34, 63.7, and 65), which were produced by melt spinning (MS), mechanical alloying (MA), and sputtering (SP) was studied by X-ray- and neutron diffraction yielding structure factors, pair correlation functions, coordination numbers, atomic distances, and Warren-Cowley chemical short range order parameters. The atomic arrangement within the first coordination sphere is independent of the method of preparation while in the second and higher spheres it differs between the MS- and the MA-alloys on the one side and the SP-specimens on the other side. Thus one understands that some physical properties of the different specimens differ

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