Abstract
Every society depends on close communications between its members, at all levels of their contributions. In subterranean ant colonies, these communications are primarily mediated by pheromones. This has led to an exponential increase in the number of genes encoding olfactory receptors, similar to that observed in nocturnal mammals such as mice. How can the olfactory system manage these hundreds of genes to ensure that only one gene is expressed in each neuron? Stochastic choice mechanisms will be described and compared with vertebrates.
