The molecular basis and evolution of cooperative brood care in bumblebees

ABSTRACT: Sibling care is a hallmark of the social insects, but its evolution remains challenging to explain. The hypothesis that sibling care evolved from ancestral maternal care in the primitively eusocial insects has been elaborated to involve heterochronic changes in gene expression. This elaboration leads to the prediction that workers in these species will show patterns of gene expression more similar to foundress queens, who express maternal care behavior, than to established queens engaged solely in reproductive behavior. We tested this idea in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris using a microarray platform with ca. 4,500 genes. Unlike in the wasp Polistes metricus, in which support for the above prediction has been obtained, we found that patterns of brain gene expression in foundress and queen

ORGANISM(S): Bombus terrestris

SUBMITTER: Hollis Woodard 

PROVIDER: E-MTAB-2621 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress