Judith Korb

This study reconstructs the evolutionary history of termite social systems using comparative transcriptomics, revealing that linear caste development is ancestral and bifurcated caste development evolved multiple times through gene regulatory network co-option.

The paper investigates arms races between transposable elements (TEs) and DNA methylation in termites, finding that methylation reduces TE success and that older TEs are less harmful.

The paper infers recombination rates and hotspots in termite genomes, finding low rates and hotspots, suggesting PRDM9's role and a link to germline methylation, contradicting the idea that eusociality universally increases recombination rates.