Longevity and transposon defense, the case of termite reproductives

Significance Social insects such as honey bees or termites are promising new models for aging research. In contrast to short-lived models like the fruit fly or mouse, the reproductives of an insect colony have exceptionally long lifespans. This offers important new avenues for gerontology, especially as mechanisms underlying aging are highly conserved among animals. We studied aging in a termite from the wild. Our results suggest that aging in this species, as in other animals, is related to the activity of transposable elements (TEs; also known as “jumping genes”). Yet reproductives seem to be protected by a process that normally silences TEs in the germline of animals. This suggests that natural selection used a mechanism from the germline to protect whole animals.