Gene expression patterns associated with caste and reproductive status in the ant T. longispinosus

Following queen removal, young brood tending workers of the facultative polygynous ant Temnothorax longispinosus start to develop ovaries and engage in dominance interactions. We set out to identify caste specific genes and gene expression patterns along a reproductive gradient with the queen resembling the main reproductive phenotype, followed by reproductive nest-workers, none-reproductive nest-workers and foragers as the non-reproductive extreme. For each caste 5-10 individuals were pooled for the RNA-seq experiment.