Don’t crush your ants
Based on our experience with extracting DNA and RNA from RNAlater stored material, we have decided to revise our collection recommendations. We no longer recommend crushing individuals in RNAlater and ask that ants are kept [...]
“GAGA and beyond” @ IUSSI2018
Submit your abstract for our "GAGA and beyond" at IUSSI2018 in Brazil (http://iussi2018.com/symposia)! Hoping for contributions on comparative genomics or other large-scale comparative studies that address open questions in social insect evolution.
Major collections update
Sampling for GAGA is now underway in Europe, Latin America and most recently Asia. Have a look at our updated collection efforts. We are no longer restricting our search to the top50, but have extended [...]
Updated collection protocols
We have again fine-tuned our collection protocols. Find them here and here.
Call for GAGA projects and subprojects
GAGA has now been launched via an open access publication in Myrmecological News, the collections for the first dozens of the up to 300 ant species have started, and the GAGA website has become relatively [...]
General co-authorship rules for collectors and contributors
Co-authorships on the key flagship paper emanating from specific contributions to ant collections We anticipate that the number of collectors may become so large that we will have to differentiate authorships for the most prominent [...]
Concepts for GAGA subprojects
1) GAGA is non-profit and non-commercial. However, GAGA-supported subprojects can benefit from the reduced costs granted to GAGA by Novogene and other companies for library preparation and sequencing. 2) Subprojects need to be approved by [...]
PacBio sequencing for all GAGA genomes
We are happy to announce that GAGA has initiated a partnership with the sequencing company Novogene. Novogene has agreed to provide PacBio sequencing for GAGA species, generating 15 gigabases of long-read data (~8-12 kb) [...]
Collecting life history data
For recording life history and ecological trait data for all the ant species, we now provide a short form for you to fill out. You can find it here or go to the Project Resources. [...]
Collection guideline update: Use RNAlater for sampling
Sampling in RNAlater is now the method of choice for all the samples collected for RNA/DNA sequencing for GAGA. Check out the guidelines for a protocol on how to use RNAlater in the field.
GAGA talk at BioGenomics2017
Seán Brady is talking about GAGA at the BioGenomics2017 Conference in Washington, D.C. on Thursday 11:50 am (Feb 23 2017): The Global Ant Genomics Alliance (GAGA) 21-3 Room: Salon 4, Marriott Hotel.
Updated collection guidelines
We have updated our collection guidelines. You can find the latest pdfs at the resource section.
Collection guidelines available
We now offer guidelines and detailed explanations for sample requirements of GAGA. You can also find a field-friendly one-page summary of the sampling recommendations.
First 50 target species
We now host a list of the first 50 species that will be targeted by GAGA! You can find it here. Divided by subfamily this top 50 looks as follows: 13 Formicinae 11 Myrmicinae 8 [...]
GAGA Community
We have updated the website and will start adding the entire GAGA community to the world distribution map. Please let us know, if you prefer to be not shown on this map.