Project description:To investigate the effect of supergene status and social environment pre- and post-pupation, we used RNA-sequencing of fire ant ant workers to assess gene expression differences.
Project description:Performances of flax gene expression analyses were compared in two categories of Nimblegen microarrays (short 25-mers oligonucleotides and long 60-mers oligonucleotides) Results obtained in this study are described in Intra-platform comparison of flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) high-density Nimblegen DNA microarrays submitted to Journal of Computational Biology
Project description:Using an organ-specific RNA-sequencing approach, we explore the role of supergene genotype and social environment on unmated, reproductive females Solenopsis invicta ants as they depart on their mating flights.
Project description:In the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, a chromosomal inversion-derived supergene predicts gyne (pre-reproductive queen) weight and corresponding colony founding behavior. Inversion-carrying gynes are lightweight and depend on assistance from workers, meaning they must initiate reproduction in an already existing social group. Gynes that lack the inversion supergene are heavier and found colonies from scratch, relying on their own nutrient reserves to feed an initial brood. However, plasticity in gyne weight and life history also exists in fire ants, such as queen replacement, an alternative mode of dependent reproduction determined by gyne overwintering status. Like inversion-carrying gynes, overwintered gynes without the inversion supergene exhibit a lightweight phenotype and worker dependence. In gyne brains and ovaries, we compared transcriptional profiles of overwintered and non-overwintered gynes to reveal the gene regulatory changes associated with overwintering. We observed functional enrichment for several biological processes related to metabolism and behavior among these plasticity-associated differentially expressed genes. A comparison to genes differentially expressed by supergene genotype revealed significantly greater overlap than expected by chance in ovarian tissues. Moreover, some plasticity-associated genes were found to exhibit fixed allelic differences between inverted and non-inverted supergene variants that may contribute to observed differences in gene expression and physiology. Overall, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that a supergene modulates variation in social organization, in part, through increased genetic regulation of ancestrally plastic traits.