Social insects as a model to study the molecular basis of ageing

One major gap in the current knowledge of the molecular bases of ageing is that most of the work has been done using short-lived model organisms such as fruitflies, nematodes, yeast and mice. Here, we argue that ants and social bee species provide an excellent complementary system to study ageing, and this for two reasons: first, in contrast to model organisms, ant and bee queens are extraordinarily long-lived, and second, there is a tremendous variation in lifespan among the genetically identical queens, workers (non-reproductive females) and males, with queens living up to 500 times longer than males and 10 times longer than workers. We review recent experimental work aimed at testing the role of antioxidant genes within the conceptual framework of the free radical theory of ageing, as well as studies investigating the role of juvenile hormone, vitellogenin and telomeres as mediators of ageing in social insects.