Molecular signatures of plastic phenotypes in two eusocial insect species with simple societies
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Dinoponera quadriceps Polistes canadensis
PROVIDER: GSE59525 | GEO | 2015/09/30
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA255520
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Eusocial insects have evolved the capacity to generate adults with distinct morphological, reproductive and behavioural phenotypes from the same genome. Recent studies suggest that RNA editing might enhance the diversity of gene products at the post-transcriptional level, particularly to induce functional changes in the nervous system. Using head samples from the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior, we compare RNA editomes across eusocial castes, identifying ca. 11,000 RNA editing sites in gynes, large workers and small workers. Those editing sites map to 800 genes functionally enriched for neurotransmission, circadian rhythm, temperature response, RNA splicing and carboxylic acid biosynthesis. Most A. echinatior editing sites are species specific, but 8M-bM-^@M-^S23% are conserved across ant subfamilies and likely to have been important for the evolution of eusociality in ants. The level of editing varies for the same site between castes, suggesting that RNA editing might be a general mechanism that shapes caste behaviour in ants. Analysis of genome-wide RNA editing in three different female castes of the the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior.
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Project description: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 bumblebees were more similar to each other than to workers. However, comparisons of lists of differentially expressed genes derived from this study and gene lists from microarray studies in Polistes and the honeybee Apis mellifera suggest that there is a shared set of genes involved in the regulation of related social behaviors across independent eusocial lineages. Together, these results suggest that the multiple independent evolutions of eusociality in the insects involved a combination of shared and different mechanisms.
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Project description:Eusocial insects have evolved the capacity to generate adults with distinct morphological, reproductive and behavioural phenotypes from the same genome. Recent studies suggest that RNA editing might enhance the diversity of gene products at the post-transcriptional level, particularly to induce functional changes in the nervous system. Using head samples from the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior, we compare RNA editomes across eusocial castes, identifying ca. 11,000 RNA editing sites in gynes, large workers and small workers. Those editing sites map to 800 genes functionally enriched for neurotransmission, circadian rhythm, temperature response, RNA splicing and carboxylic acid biosynthesis. Most A. echinatior editing sites are species specific, but 8–23% are conserved across ant subfamilies and likely to have been important for the evolution of eusociality in ants. The level of editing varies for the same site between castes, suggesting that RNA editing might be a general mechanism that shapes caste behaviour in ants.
2014-10-02 | GSE51576 | GEO
Project description:Molecular signatures of plastic phenotypes in two eusocial insect species with simple societies
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Project description:The emergence of eusociality is one of the major transitions in evolution. There have been several investigations into the reasons for shaping caste differentiation and social behavior of eusocial insects, such as ants and honeybees. However, the molecular mechanisms governing the sociality of these insects remain obscure. In this study, we profiled the transcriptome and chromatin accessibility of brain tissues in all castes: queens, males, gynes and workers in Monomorium pharaonis which is a typical caste-dependent eusocial insect. We created a comprehensive dataset including 16 RNA-seq and 16 ATAC-seq profiles from 4 biological replicates. We also demonstrated strong reproducibility of the datasets and identified specific genes and open chromatin regions in the genome that may be associated with caste differentiation. Overall, our data will be a valuable resource for further study of the mechanisms underlying eusocial insect behavior, particularly the role of the brain in the control of eusociality.
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Project description:The unparalleled success of the insects comprising more than a million species has long stood out to evolutionary biologists. A much overlooked evolutionary innovation of the insects is the serosa, an extraembryonic epithelium that covers yolk and embryo in their eggs. We have shown that this epithelium provides innate immune protection to eggs of the beetle Tribolium castaneum. It remained elusive, however, if this innate immune competence evolved in the Tribolium lineage, or is ancestral to all insects. Here, we expand our studies to the bug Oncopeltus fasciatus that belongs to the basal main group of insects, the Hemimetabola. RNA sequencing reveals an extensive transcriptional response upon infection of the egg with Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. We demonstrate the antimicrobial activity of upregulated peptides using in vitro bacterial growth inhibition assays, and describe two novel families of AMPs called Serosins and Ovicins. By qPCR, we determine that eggs become immune responsive when the serosa develops. Finally, in situ hybridizations show that transcripts of upregulated peptides are located in the serosal cells and not in the underlying embryo. We conclude that the serosa protects the O. fasciatus embryo against pathogens. This first evidence from hemimetabolous insect eggs suggests that immune competence is an ancestral property of the serosa. The evolutionary origin of the serosa with its immune function might have been one of the factors that facilitated the spectacular success of the insects.
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