What is it about?
In termite societies, some offspring become workers while others grow into kings and queens. But what decides their fate? In this study, we found that the age of the termite father plays a surprising role. Younger fathers tend to produce offspring that become future kings and queens, while older fathers produce more workers. This change is not due to DNA mutations, but rather to chemical modifications in sperm called DNA methylation. These modifications act like switches that turn genes on or off, influencing how the offspring develop. This is the first direct evidence that aging in insect fathers can affect their children’s roles in the colony via epigenetic inheritance. Our findings help explain how social roles are determined in insect societies, and may also offer broader insights into how parental conditions affect the next generation in other animals.
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Why is it important?
This study provides the first direct evidence that aging in male termites can affect the future roles of their offspring through epigenetic modifications in sperm. It challenges the long-standing idea that caste fate is determined solely by environmental factors, and opens a new avenue for understanding how parental conditions can shape social structure across generations. By revealing an epigenetic mechanism underlying caste differentiation, this work contributes to the broader fields of developmental biology, evolution, and even reproductive health.
Perspectives
As someone who has studied termite social behavior for many years, I have long been intrigued by how such complex colony structures arise. This research confirms a theory we proposed years ago: that a parent’s condition rather than just genes or environment can guide the fate of their offspring. I find it exciting that sperm itself carries more than genetic information, it also carries a record of the father's experience. This insight reshapes how we think about inheritance and evolution in social organisms.
Kenji Matsuura
Kyoto University
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This page is a summary of: Transgenerational epigenetic effect of kings’ aging on offspring’s caste fate mediated by sperm DNA methylation in termites, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 2025, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2509506122.
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