A termite carries its wood-digesting microbes in its gut, but the ant doesn’t have that option. Although visually similar, ants and termites are genetically very different and process food very differently. Researchers study the fungus that the ants eat and identify a symbiotic relationship between the ant and the fungus. Researchers also study the genome of the leaf-cutter ant and identify that they have a reduced number of detoxification genes. Researchers identify that RNA editing sites are conserved between subfamilies. Many of these mechanisms can only be determined with sequencing, all the way from the fungus’s adaptations to the ant’s social structure. For more information on applications of Illumina technology in the field of Agrigenomics, please visit us at Illumina: Agrigenomics http://www.illumina.com/applications/agriculture.ilmn Products: HiSeq: http://www.illumina.com/systems/hiseq_2500_1500.ilmn TruSeq DNA: http://www.illumina.com/science/education/truseq.ilmn Publication Links: PMID: 21719571 | Nygaard S., et al. (2011): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21719571 PMID: 25435021 | De Fine Licht H.H., et al (2014): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25435021 PMID: 25266559 | Li Q., et al (2014): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25266559 Publication Research Reviews: http://www.illumina.com/science/publications/publications-review.ilmn The Science Mondays (SciMon) series is brought to you by Illumina http://www.illumina.com/ Illumina hosts Swati Kadam, Ph.D., Scientific Liaison, Scientific Affairs and Jacques Retief, Associate Director Scientific Affairs deliver 5 minutes of scientific enlightenment on the latest discoveries.