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Genomics of colony founding in fire ants - pleo1

ABSTRACT: Fire ant queens were collected immediately after a nuptial mating flight and split into two groups: paired queens (pleometrosis) and individual queens(haplometrosis). All the queens were provided with a nesting chamber consisting of a glass tube half-filled with water, which was covered by a cotton ball and a layer of dental plaster. Tubes were sealed with a loose cap to provide air flow. Specimens were reared in the dark at 28C, 70% relative humidity under claustral conditions (no food and no water) for 1 month. After the eclosion of the first batch of workers (minims), incipient colonies were provided with water, sugar water and frozen crickets. Glass tubes were set open in pencil boxes coated with Fluon to prevent escape. Queens were subsequently monitored daily until it was possible to identify the social rank of the two cofoundresses in pleometrotic couples.

ORGANISM(S): Solenopsis invicta

SUBMITTER: Fabio Manfredini

PROVIDER: E-MEXP-3886 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress

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Publications

Sociogenomics of cooperation and conflict during colony founding in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta.

Manfredini Fabio F Riba-Grognuz Oksana O Wurm Yannick Y Keller Laurent L Shoemaker DeWayne D Grozinger Christina M CM

PLoS genetics 20130808 8

One of the fundamental questions in biology is how cooperative and altruistic behaviors evolved. The majority of studies seeking to identify the genes regulating these behaviors have been performed in systems where behavioral and physiological differences are relatively fixed, such as in the honey bee. During colony founding in the monogyne (one queen per colony) social form of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, newly-mated queens may start new colonies either individually (haplometrosis) or in gr ...[more]

PMID: 23950725

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Project description:In many animals living in groups the reproductivestatus of individuals is determined by their social status. In specieswith social hierarchies, the death of dominant individuals typicallyupheaves the social hierarchy and provides an opportunity for subordinateindividuals to improve their social status. Such a phenomenon occursin the monogyne form of the fire ant\emph{, Solenopsis invicta, }wherecolonies typically contain a single wingless reproductive queen, thousandsof workers and hundreds of winged non-reproductive virgin queens.Upon the death of the mother queen, many virgin queens shed theirwings and initiate reproductive development instead of departing ona mating flight. Workers progressively execute almost all of themover the following weeks. The workers base their collective decisionon pheromonal cues associated with the onset of reproductive developmentof the virgin queens which occurs after orphaning. To examine the factors that determine which virgin queens are executed and which survive, we set up artificial competitions between queens from different colonies. Using microarrays, we found that queens from winning colonies showed higher mitochondrial as well as organ development activities 24 hours after orphaning than did queens from colonies that lost the competitions. Furthermore, queens from colonies where queens shed their wings faster after orphaning were more likely to survive competitions. Finally, higher wing shedding speed is linked to higher mitochondrial activity. Eight competitions were initially conducted between queens form pairs of colonies. Six competitions clearly identified one winning colony and one losing colony. We thus have microarray data for six competitions (ie biological replicates), with one winning and one losing colony within each competition. Thus 12 colonies total. For each colony, RNA extracted from five queens was pooled, and hybridized against an unrelated common reference RNA that had been made from a pool of many S. invicta individuals of all castes and developmental stages. Lab work was conducted in blocks (by competition) with randomized order within competition to avoid introducing bias. No technical replication was performed.

Dataset Information

Genomics of colony founding in fire ants - pleo1

Publications

Sociogenomics of cooperation and conflict during colony founding in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta.

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