Nourishment inequalities have long been considered the most important environmental determinant of castes in Polistes [ 8, 14, 27, 39].
Barchuk, A. R. et al. Molecular determinants of caste differentiation in the highly eusocial honeybee Apis mellifera.
Despite this emerging understanding, no studies have yet focused on the worker termite gut or its resident symbionts as potential molecular determinants of caste differentiation.
This research took a microarray-based approach to test the hypothesis that the worker termite gut and its eukaryotic protist symbionts are potential molecular determinants of caste differentiation.
Via comparisons to previously identified caste-related genes, we found that nourishment restriction only partially biased wasp gene expression patterns toward worker caste-like traits, which supports the notion that nourishment, in conjunction with social environment, is a determinant of developmental caste bias.
Our central hypothesis is that the worker gut and its eukaryotic symbionts are potential molecular determinants of termite caste differentiation, eusocial polyphenism and, ultimately, social structure.
The importance of caste as a determinant of inequity in health has been shown in other studies conducted in India.
Weaver, N. Physiology of caste determination.
Although it captured only a snap shot of India's mortality patterns, it reinforced previous findings from the NFHS 1998-1999 that economic well-being was a more robust determinant of mortality risk than social caste [8], [16].
In addition to economic status, the stratification of caste is one of the strongest social determinants of health in the setting of India (71).
Structural determinants like caste group, wealth, and education were all significantly associated with access to the minimum three antenatal care visits, institutional deliveries, and use of any modern method of contraceptive.
