Profile of Raghavendra Gadagkar

Profile of Raghavendra Gadagkar aghavendra Gadagkar is in love Science Talent Search Examination and with Ropalidia marginata,a won a scholarship that enabled him to species of red–orange paper attend Bangalore University (Bangalore, wasp found in southern India. India; called Central College at the R‘‘And boy, isn’t it a beautiful wasp,’’ he time). If he had not won the scholarship, wrote in a ‘‘guest feature’’ article to ap- he probably would have been relegated to pear in a textbook on social behavior (1). a 2-year college for undergraduates. ‘‘I have been stung dozens of times The advantage of the university did but never complained. I guess that’s not lie in its teaching, according to what love does to you,’’ he says in the Gadagkar, which he found dull and de- book. void of challenge. It lay in the universi- The evolution of social life fascinates ty’s active research program. Gadagkar. He chose to study R. mar- ‘‘Right from the first year I was di- ginata because its social behavior is at rectly in contact with graduate students an intermediate stage of development, working toward a PhD and other re- allowing him to observe how the rudi- searchers,’’ he said. He spent most of ments of complex behavior emerge. his time talking to the research scholars Although all R. marginata wasps in a and pursuing research projects of his nest appear identical, including the own. queen, they assign themselves distinct Classes at Central College may have roles, and the organization of the nest bored him, but Gadagkar found inspira- as a whole shares certain sophisticated tion in the classrooms themselves. ‘‘Al- aspects of behavior with more advanced most every window of the college had insect societies. Raghavendra Gadagkar nests of these little wasps [R. mar- ‘‘I think the wasps hold a mirror to us ginata],’’ he said. ‘‘They were fascinating and allow us to reflect on our own soci- to watch. They built a honeycomb-like ety,’’ he said, ‘‘not in the sense of imi- military postings, and Gadagkar did not structures, but much smaller. Usually no tating them, but trying to understand begin formal schooling until he would more than 3, 4, 5 centimeters in diame- what we might do under certain normally have been in third grade. The ter, and there are 20, 30 individuals circumstances.’’ administrators wanted to place him in working together, going out, bringing Gadagkar is a professor at the Centre the first grade. As a compromise with food, feeding the larvae, fighting. It was for Ecological Sciences, part of the In- his parents, they agreed that he could great fun to watch them as a layman.’’ dian Institute of Science in Bangalore, try the second grade. Gadagkar finished his BSc in zoology India. He has studied R. marginata al- He soon demonstrated such promise, in 1972 and earned a MSc degree, also most exclusively for 30 years and is the however, that he was permitted to over- in zoology, in 1974. For graduate stud- world’s foremost expert in the behavior take his classmates and catch up with ies, he applied to the Indian Institute of of these wasps. He was elected a For- kids of his age. Science (IISc). The institute was ‘‘argu- eign Associate of the National Academy ‘‘I made up for lost time,’’ he said, ably the best scientific research institute of Sciences in 2006. In his Inaugural ‘‘and yet I had this great freedom as a in the country,’’ he said. Upon his ac- Article, he gives readers a tour of some kid which I enjoyed thoroughly. I think ceptance he was offered the only avail- of the most important questions he and that allowed me to watch bugs and able seat that year for pursuing a doc- his students have considered during his butterflies!’’ torate degree in molecular biology. career (2). In the eighth grade, Gadagkar had to ‘‘I was equally interested in molecular choose between science and the arts and biology on one hand and animal behav- In Search of Lost Time humanities. The specialization was so ior on the other,’’ he said, ‘‘but at that extreme that students even had to Gadagkar was born in 1953 in Kanpur time you could do only one of them. I choose a subfield. in the Indian province of Uttar Pradesh. took the opening, but I continued to ‘‘At that age it was completely inexpli- In 2008, before Gadagkar received the watch wasps as a hobby.’’ cable to me why you couldn’t do both H. K. Firodia Award, given annually to During his PhD studies, Gadagkar arts and literature and science together, mastered the techniques of modern mo- recognize world-class contributions by but in India it was unthinkable,’’ Gada- Indian scientists, he filled out a ques- lecular biology. Under the supervision gkar said. ‘‘I had no possibility of pursu- of K. P. Gopinathan, he conducted stud- tionnaire that aimed to reveal details of ing both simultaneously. So I chose biol- ies on mycobacteriophage I3. his life that someone who knew him ogy, but it was much to my regret that I He graduated in 1979, and soon after only from his research would never have couldn’t also continue studying mathe- he married Geetha, whom he had met learned. To a question about his family, matics and physics and in fact literature at Central College. The couple spent he replied: and arts, which I was very interested in.’’ 5 years apart while Geetha taught biol- Gadagkar credits his biology teacher ‘‘My father, a strict disciplinarian, ogy in Nainital before she joined him Mr. Chacko with drawing him to the was my great source of inspiration. at IISc. He was a man of great moral and subject, away from Hindi literature, ‘‘which was another of my great passions ‘‘My wife has made it possible for me physical courage. His wish that I ex- to merge profession with hobby, work cel in ‘studies’ has remained the at the time,’’ he said. strongest motivator of my life.’’ Windows of Inspiration This is a Biography of a recently elected member of the His father was an officer in the Indian In his final year of high school, Gada- National Academy of Sciences to accompany the member’s Air Force. The family moved often for gkar entered India’s prestigious National Inaugural Article on pages 10407–10414. 10404–10406 ͉ PNAS ͉ June 30, 2009 ͉ vol. 106 ͉ no. 26 www.pnas.org͞cgi͞doi͞10.1073͞pnas.0906143106 Downloaded by guest on September 29, 2021 PROFILE with vacation, and office with home,’’ Eusocial questions include: why do Gadagkar said. these insects live collectively? What evolutionary benefits do they gain? Humans A Very Important Species have diploid genomes, with 1 copy from At IISc, Gadagkar met Madhav Gadgil, the mother and 1 from the father; a mathematical biologist who had hence, an individual is related equally to worked with Harvard’s E. O. Wilson. his or her siblings and offspring, sharing ‘‘Gadgil had actually written a small 50% of one’s genetic material with each. note on Ropalidia marginata shortly be- But in Hymenoptera, the system of fore I met him,’’ Gadagkar said. ‘‘One haploidiploidy operates, in which fe- day I told him ‘I know lots of these males have 2 copies of the genome, but wasps, if you are interested in studying males have only 1, which they receive them.’ He said, ‘No, I am not studying entirely from their mothers. As a conse- them, but if you want to study them, I quence, a female individual is related by can help you.’ He led me to some of the 50% to its offspring and 75% to its sis- literature. I started reading E. O. Wil- ters, which makes it more profitable to son’s articles. And then it turned out ensure the genetic success of siblings that this species belongs to one of the rather than investing resources in most important groups for understand- mating. ing the evolution of insect social behav- The evolutionary biologist W. D. ior. It came as a great surprise to me.’’ Hamilton proposed a theory of selection Gadagkar had still not decided which Ropalidia marginata. in which an individual aids another if interested him more: animal behavior or the cost of the action is less than the molecular biology. ‘‘Again I was willing benefit to the recipient multiplied by the even thousands of wasps, and they are to go off in either direction,’’ he said. fraction of genetic material shared by all on my computer files. Having done ‘‘And the choices before me were some- the two. that, over many, many days of observa- what different. It was obvious to me Based on Hamilton’s theory, hap- tion, I actually computed what we call that if I wanted to do animal behavior, loidiploidy had been put forward as the time-activity budgets, for every wasp.’’ then there is no better place than the prime reason for the emergence of euso- tropics of southern India. But it was also He found that even though R. mar- ciality. But over his career, Gadagkar clear to me that if I wanted to do exper- ginata does not have morphological has amassed evidence that shows that iments in molecular biology then I castes, there are behavioral castes. ‘‘I the cost and benefit factors greatly would really be much better off moving called them sitters, fighters, and forag- outweigh the relatedness term in to the United States or to Europe where ers,’’ he said. ‘‘The sitters are fairly mild importance (5).

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