Gene expression of metamorphosis in fire ants
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Solenopsis invicta
PROVIDER: GSE24906 | GEO | 2013/10/20
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA132097
REPOSITORIES: GEO
Similar Datasets
Project description:Ants are among the most successful animals on earth, with societies of a complexity that rivals our own. These societies are characterized by reproductive division of labor between female queens that can live several years and lay thousands of eggs per day, workers that live only a few months and are sterile, and males that live only a few weeks and do not participate in colony tasks. These striking differences in lifespan and roles are echoed by extensive morphological and physiological divergence. Using the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, we conduct the first genome-wide survey of developmental gene expression levels over 20 time-points from larval to adult stages in workers, queens and males Three castes: Worker, queen & male; four colonies used for each caste (12 colonies total). Timepoints: 0h, 3h, 6h, 12h, 18h, 24h, 36h and 48h (hour timepoints) and once every 24hours until eclosion (day timepoints). Eclosion occured after 15 days for male (21 timepoints), 14 days for queen (20 timepoints) and 12 days for worker larvae (19 timepoints). We used a loop design with direct comparisons of consecutive samples within each cast: two loops in one Dye-direction, two loops in the other for balance. Additionally, 3-5 hybridizations against an unrelated Reference RNA were performed within each replicate loop. Microarray batch is indicated in the description column
2013-10-20 | E-GEOD-24906 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Ants provide remarkable examples of equivalent genotypes developing into divergent and discrete phenotypes. Diploid eggs can develop either into queens, which specialize in reproduction, or workers, which participate in cooperative tasks such as building the nest, collecting food, and rearing the young. In contrast, the differentiation between males and females generally depends upon whether eggs are fertilized, with fertilized (diploid) eggs giving rise to females and unfertilized (haploid) eggs giving rise to males. To obtain a comprehensive picture of the relative contributions of gender (sex), caste, developmental stage, and species divergence to gene expression evolution, we investigated gene expression patterns in pupal and adult queens, workers, and males of two species of fire ants, Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri. Microarray hybridizations revealed that variation in gene expression profiles is influenced more by developmental stage than by caste membership, sex, or species identity. The second major contributor to variation in gene expression was the combination of sex and caste. Although workers and queens share equivalent diploid nuclear genomes, they have highly distinctive patterns of gene expression in both the pupal and the adult stages, as might be expected given their extraordinary level of phenotypic differentiation. Overall, the difference in the proportion of differentially expressed genes was greater between workers and males than between workers and queens or queens and males, consistent with the fact that workers and males share neither gender nor reproductive capability. Moreover, between-species comparisons revealed that the greatest difference in gene expression patterns occurred in adult workers, a finding consistent with the fact that adult workers most directly experience the distinct external environments characterizing the different habitats occupied by the two species. Thus, much of the evolution of gene expression in ants may occur in the worker caste, despite the fact that these individuals are largely or completely sterile. Analyses of gene expression evolution revealed a combination of positive selection and relaxation of stabilizing selection as important factors driving the evolution of such genes. Transcriptome analysis is a powerful tool for unveiling the distribution and magnitude of genetic incompatibilities between hybridizing taxa. The nature of such incompatibilities is closely associated with the evolutionary histories of the parental species and may differ across tissues and between the sexes. In eusocial insects, the presence of distinct castes that experience divergent selection regimes may result in additional distinct patterns of caste-specific hybrid incompatibilities. We analyzed levels of expression of >14,000 genes in two life stages of each caste and sex in the fire ants Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri and in their hybrids. We found strong contributions of both developmental stage and caste to gene expression patterns. In contrast, variability in expression was only weakly associated with species, with hybrid scores falling between those of the two parental species in both life stages and all castes. Hybrid incompatibilities were surprisingly modest, with only 16 genes in pupae and 18 genes in adults being mis-expressed, and indicating low levels of disruption in gene regulation in hybrids. The castes differed in numbers of mis-expressed genes, with males and workers each mis-expressing at least seven times as many genes as queens in both life stages. Interestingly, homologues of many of the mis-expressed genes have been implicated in behavioral variation in Drosophila melanogaster. General expression profiles of hybrids consistently were more similar to those of Solenopsis richteri than Solenopsis invicta, presumably because Solenopsis richteri trans-regulatory elements tend to be dominant to those of Solenopsis invicta and/or because there is an overall bias in the genetic composition of the hybrids towards Solenopsis richteri. Altogether, our results suggest that selection acting on each caste may contribute differently to interspecific divergence and speciation in this group of ants. We analyzed samples from two species, their hybrids: a total of 140 samples, consisting of either workers, queens or males (1-5 pooled individuals) and collected either as larvae, pupae or adults. Each sample was tested once (i.e. single biological replicate) against a common reference (dye-swap across experiments)
2012-03-31 | E-GEOD-35217 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Ants provide remarkable examples of equivalent genotypes developing into divergent and discrete phenotypes. Diploid eggs can develop either into queens, which specialize in reproduction, or workers, which participate in cooperative tasks such as building the nest, collecting food, and rearing the young. In contrast, the differentiation between males and females generally depends upon whether eggs are fertilized, with fertilized (diploid) eggs giving rise to females and unfertilized (haploid) eggs giving rise to males. To obtain a comprehensive picture of the relative contributions of gender (sex), caste, developmental stage, and species divergence to gene expression evolution, we investigated gene expression patterns in pupal and adult queens, workers, and males of two species of fire ants, Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri. Microarray hybridizations revealed that variation in gene expression profiles is influenced more by developmental stage than by caste membership, sex, or species identity. The second major contributor to variation in gene expression was the combination of sex and caste. Although workers and queens share equivalent diploid nuclear genomes, they have highly distinctive patterns of gene expression in both the pupal and the adult stages, as might be expected given their extraordinary level of phenotypic differentiation. Overall, the difference in the proportion of differentially expressed genes was greater between workers and males than between workers and queens or queens and males, consistent with the fact that workers and males share neither gender nor reproductive capability. Moreover, between-species comparisons revealed that the greatest difference in gene expression patterns occurred in adult workers, a finding consistent with the fact that adult workers most directly experience the distinct external environments characterizing the different habitats occupied by the two species. Thus, much of the evolution of gene expression in ants may occur in the worker caste, despite the fact that these individuals are largely or completely sterile. Analyses of gene expression evolution revealed a combination of positive selection and relaxation of stabilizing selection as important factors driving the evolution of such genes. Transcriptome analysis is a powerful tool for unveiling the distribution and magnitude of genetic incompatibilities between hybridizing taxa. The nature of such incompatibilities is closely associated with the evolutionary histories of the parental species and may differ across tissues and between the sexes. In eusocial insects, the presence of distinct castes that experience divergent selection regimes may result in additional distinct patterns of caste-specific hybrid incompatibilities. We analyzed levels of expression of >14,000 genes in two life stages of each caste and sex in the fire ants Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri and in their hybrids. We found strong contributions of both developmental stage and caste to gene expression patterns. In contrast, variability in expression was only weakly associated with species, with hybrid scores falling between those of the two parental species in both life stages and all castes. Hybrid incompatibilities were surprisingly modest, with only 16 genes in pupae and 18 genes in adults being mis-expressed, and indicating low levels of disruption in gene regulation in hybrids. The castes differed in numbers of mis-expressed genes, with males and workers each mis-expressing at least seven times as many genes as queens in both life stages. Interestingly, homologues of many of the mis-expressed genes have been implicated in behavioral variation in Drosophila melanogaster. General expression profiles of hybrids consistently were more similar to those of Solenopsis richteri than Solenopsis invicta, presumably because Solenopsis richteri trans-regulatory elements tend to be dominant to those of Solenopsis invicta and/or because there is an overall bias in the genetic composition of the hybrids towards Solenopsis richteri. Altogether, our results suggest that selection acting on each caste may contribute differently to interspecific divergence and speciation in this group of ants.
2012-04-01 | GSE35217 | GEO
Project description:Will be added/updated once the manuscript is finalized. Cardiocondyla obscurior queens. Three treatments: virgin queens, queens mated by real males, queens sham-mated (by sterile males). Queens collected 1 week and 8 week after mating. seven loops for queens collected 1 week after mating; nine loops for queens collected 8 weeks after mating. Five direct comparisons (with dye-swaps... so 10 arrays) were done of between 1 week and 8 week samples of queens mated by real males. Each sample is RNA from two queens (from different colonies). Samples were hybridized against Solenopsis invicta microarrays (signal was detectable for most clones!)
2013-10-26 | E-GEOD-24953 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Queen discrimination behavior in the red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta maintains its two types of societies: colonies with one (monogyne) or many (polygyne) queens, yet the underlying genetic mechanism is poorly understood. This behavior is controlled by two supergene alleles, SB and Sb, with ~600 genes. Polygyne workers, having either the SB/SB or SB/Sb genotype, accept additional SB/Sb queens into their colonies but kill SB/SB queens. While monogyne workers, all SB/SB, reject all additional queens regardless of genotype. Because the SB and Sb alleles do not recombine, it is difficult to determine which genes within the supergene mediate this differential worker behavior. We hypothesized that the alternate worker genotypes sense queens differently because of different patterns of gene expression in their main sensory organ, the antennae. To identify such differentially expressed genes, we sequenced RNA from four biological replicates of pooled antennae from three groups of workers: monogyne SB/SB, polygyne SB/SB, and polygyne SB/Sb. We identified 81 differentially expressed protein coding genes with 14 encoding potential odor metabolism and perception proteins. We focused on the two differentially expressed odorant perception genes: an odorant binding protein SiOBP12 and an odorant receptor SiOR463. We found that the SiOR463 was lost in the Sb-genome. In contrast, the SiOBP12 has an Sb-specific duplication SiOBP12b’, which was expressed in the SB/Sb worker antennae, while both paralogs SiOBP12 and SiOBP12b’ were expressed in the body. This result indicates that SiOBP12b’ has gained an antennal promoter or enhancer and suggests neofunctionalization, perhaps for queen discrimination behavior.
2020-04-10 | GSE126674 | GEO
Project description:Queen discrimination behavior in the red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta maintains its two types of societies: colonies with one (monogyne) or many (polygyne) queens, yet the underlying genetic mechanism is poorly understood. This behavior is controlled by two supergene alleles, SB and Sb, with ~600 genes. Polygyne workers, having either the SB/SB or SB/Sb genotype, accept additional SB/Sb queens into their colonies but kill SB/SB queens. While monogyne workers, all SB/SB, reject all additional queens regardless of genotype. Because the SB and Sb alleles do not recombine, it is difficult to determine which genes within the supergene mediate this differential worker behavior. We hypothesized that the alternate worker genotypes sense queens differently because of different patterns of gene expression in their main sensory organ, the antennae. To identify such differentially expressed genes, we sequenced RNA from four biological replicates of pooled antennae from three groups of workers: monogyne SB/SB, polygyne SB/SB, and polygyne SB/Sb. We identified 81 differentially expressed protein coding genes with 14 encoding potential odor metabolism and perception proteins. We focused on the two differentially expressed odorant perception genes: an odorant binding protein SiOBP12 and an odorant receptor SiOR463. We found that the SiOR463 was lost in the Sb-genome. In contrast, the SiOBP12 has an Sb-specific duplication SiOBP12b’, which was expressed in the SB/Sb worker antennae, while both paralogs SiOBP12 and SiOBP12b’ were expressed in the body. This result indicates that SiOBP12b’ has gained an antennal promoter or enhancer and suggests neofunctionalization, perhaps for queen discrimination behavior.
2020-04-10 | GSE126673 | GEO
Project description:Queen discrimination behavior in the red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta maintains its two types of societies: colonies with one (monogyne) or many (polygyne) queens, yet the underlying genetic mechanism is poorly understood. This behavior is controlled by two supergene alleles, SB and Sb, with ~600 genes. Polygyne workers, having either the SB/SB or SB/Sb genotype, accept additional SB/Sb queens into their colonies but kill SB/SB queens. While monogyne workers, all SB/SB, reject all additional queens regardless of genotype. Because the SB and Sb alleles do not recombine, it is difficult to determine which genes within the supergene mediate this differential worker behavior. We hypothesized that the alternate worker genotypes sense queens differently because of different patterns of gene expression in their main sensory organ, the antennae. To identify such differentially expressed genes, we sequenced RNA from four biological replicates of pooled antennae from three groups of workers: monogyne SB/SB, polygyne SB/SB, and polygyne SB/Sb. We identified 81 differentially expressed protein coding genes with 14 encoding potential odor metabolism and perception proteins. We focused on the two differentially expressed odorant perception genes: an odorant binding protein SiOBP12 and an odorant receptor SiOR463. We found that the SiOR463 was lost in the Sb-genome. In contrast, the SiOBP12 has an Sb-specific duplication SiOBP12b’, which was expressed in the SB/Sb worker antennae, while both paralogs SiOBP12 and SiOBP12b’ were expressed in the body. This result indicates that SiOBP12b’ has gained an antennal promoter or enhancer and suggests neofunctionalization, perhaps for queen discrimination behavior.
2020-04-10 | GSE126368 | GEO
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.
2013-12-14 | GSE26039 | GEO
Project description:In the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, a colony queen number is determined by the founding queen's genotypes at the 13 Mb supergene with the non-recombining variants SB and Sb. Single-queen colonies are always headed by SB/SB queens while multiple-queens colonies are always headed by SB/Sb queens. The two variants of the supergene, SB and Sb are completely linked to the two alleles (B and b) of the gene Gp-9. SB/SB and SB/Sb queens differ in many physiological traits including their maturation rate and odor. To explain why SB/SB and SB/Sb queens have different odors, and why SB/SB virgins mature faster and accumulate more fat, we measured expression of ~6000 genes in virgin queens 1 and 11 days after eclosion and in reproductive queens. Keywords: fire ants, Solenopsis invicta, Supergene, queen, Gp-9, social form, maturation, fat storage, queen odor, cuticular hydrocarbon, worker discrimination, monogyne, polygyne, transposon, chemical signaling
2012-11-07 | GSE42062 | GEO
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.
2013-12-14 | E-GEOD-26039 | biostudies-arrayexpress