Vitellogenin and vitellogenin receptor gene expression is associated with male and female parenting in a subsocial insect.

ABSTRACT: Complex social behaviour in Hymenoptera has been hypothesized to evolve by co-opting reproductive pathways (the ovarian ground plan hypothesis, OGPH) and gene networks (the reproductive ground plan hypothesis, RGPH). In support of these hypotheses, in eusocial Hymenoptera where there is reproductive division of labour, the yolk precursor protein vitellogenin (Vg) influences the expression of worker social behaviour. We suggest that co-opting genes involved in reproduction may occur more generally than just in the evolution of eusociality; i.e. underlie earlier stages of social evolution such as the evolution of parental care, given that reproduction and parental care rarely overlap. We therefore examined vitellogenin (vg) gene expression associated with parental care in the subsocial beetl

SUBMITTER: Roy-Zokan EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4590458 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature