Fig. 6

Transcription- and proteostasis-related expression pattern in old Cryptotermes secundus queens. Depicted is the expression patterns of genes related to transcription and proteostasis for old C. secundus queens (red arrows) in contrast to that reported for other species (grey arrows). Old C. secundus queens were characterized by a very strong proteostasis signal indicative of an upregulation of protein degradation, together with protein synthesis and protein folding. This is unusual because old organisms are typically characterized by a downregulation of these processes. The simultaneous activation of protein synthesis and degradation in old C. secundus queens can be explained by the activity of the transcription factor cnc/Nrf-2 (for more details, see text). The inner cycle arrows depict the protein life cycle; dashed arrows indicate the special case when mistakes/ errors occur. After a protein is degraded, its components are recycled