Variation in DNA Methylation Is Not Consistently Reflected by Sociality in Hymenoptera.

ABSTRACT: Changes in gene regulation that underlie phenotypic evolution can be encoded directly in the DNA sequence or mediated by chromatin modifications such as DNA methylation. It has been hypothesized that the evolution of eusocial division of labor is associated with enhanced gene regulatory potential, which may include expansions in DNA methylation in the genomes of Hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps, and sawflies). Recently, this hypothesis garnered support from analyses of a commonly used metric to estimate DNA methylation in silico, CpG content. Here, we test this hypothesis using direct, nucleotide-level measures of DNA methylation across nine species of Hymenoptera. In doing so, we generated new DNA methylomes for three species of interest, including one solitary and one facultatively eusocia

SUBMITTER: Glastad KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5522706 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature