Comparison of fire ant adult queens with different supergene genotypes (SB/SB and SB/Sb) and different age classes (1-day-old virgins, 11-day-old virgins and reproductive queens) from 2008 and 2009

ABSTRACT: 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

ORGANISM(S): Solenopsis invicta

PROVIDER: GSE42062 | GEO | 2012/11/07

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA179065

REPOSITORIES: GEO