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Patir A, Raper A, Fleming R, Henderson BEP, Murphy L, Henderson NC, Clark EL, Freeman TC, Barnett MW. Cellular heterogeneity of the developing worker honey bee (Apis mellifera) pupa: a single cell transcriptomics analysis. G3 (BETHESDA, MD.) 2023; 13:jkad178. [PMID: 37548242 PMCID: PMC10542211 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkad178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 06/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
It is estimated that animals pollinate 87.5% of flowering plants worldwide and that managed honey bees (Apis mellifera) account for 30-50% of this ecosystem service to agriculture. In addition to their important role as pollinators, honey bees are well-established insect models for studying learning and memory, behavior, caste differentiation, epigenetic mechanisms, olfactory biology, sex determination, and eusociality. Despite their importance to agriculture, knowledge of honey bee biology lags behind many other livestock species. In this study, we have used scRNA-Seq to map cell types to different developmental stages of the worker honey bee (prepupa at day 11 and pupa at day 15) and sought to determine their gene expression signatures. To identify cell-type populations, we examined the cell-to-cell network based on the similarity of the single-cells transcriptomic profiles. Grouping similar cells together we identified 63 different cell clusters of which 17 clusters were identifiable at both stages. To determine genes associated with specific cell populations or with a particular biological process involved in honey bee development, we used gene coexpression analysis. We combined this analysis with literature mining, the honey bee protein atlas, and gene ontology analysis to determine cell cluster identity. Of the cell clusters identified, 17 were related to the nervous system and sensory organs, 7 to the fat body, 19 to the cuticle, 5 to muscle, 4 to compound eye, 2 to midgut, 2 to hemocytes, and 1 to malpighian tubule/pericardial nephrocyte. To our knowledge, this is the first whole single-cell atlas of honey bees at any stage of development and demonstrates the potential for further work to investigate their biology at the cellular level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anirudh Patir
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Anna Raper
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Robert Fleming
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Beth E P Henderson
- The Queen's Medical Research Institute, Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Edinburgh,Edinburgh BioQuarter, Edinburgh EH16 4TJ, UK
| | - Lee Murphy
- Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility, Western General Hospital, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK
| | - Neil C Henderson
- The Queen's Medical Research Institute, Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Edinburgh,Edinburgh BioQuarter, Edinburgh EH16 4TJ, UK
- Institute of Genetics and Cancer, Western General Hospital, University of Edinburgh,Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK
| | - Emily L Clark
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Tom C Freeman
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Mark W Barnett
- The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK
- Beebytes Analytics CIC, The Roslin Innovation Centre, University of Edinburgh, The Charnock Bradley Building, Easter Bush, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK
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2
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Kovačić M, Uzunov A, Tlak Gajger I, Pietropaoli M, Soroker V, Adjlane N, Benko V, Charistos L, Dall’Olio R, Formato G, Hatjina F, Malagnini V, Freda F, Otmi A, Puškadija Z, Villar C, Büchler R. Honey vs. Mite-A Trade-Off Strategy by Applying Summer Brood Interruption for Varroa destructor Control in the Mediterranean Region. INSECTS 2023; 14:751. [PMID: 37754719 PMCID: PMC10531922 DOI: 10.3390/insects14090751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Revised: 09/03/2023] [Accepted: 09/05/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we investigated the effect of queen caging on honey bee colonies' post-treatment development and the optimal timing of method application on honey production during the main summer nectar flow. We conducted the study in nine apiaries (N = 9) across six Mediterranean countries, with a total of 178 colonies. The colonies were divided into three test groups: QC1, QC2, and C. The QC1 group involved queens caged for a total of 28 days before the expected harvesting day. In the QC2 group, queens were caged for 28 days, but only 14 days before the expected harvesting day. The C group consisted of queens that were not caged, and the colonies received common local treatments. In both the QC1 and QC2 groups, the colonies were treated with a 4.2% oxalic acid (OA) solution by trickling after the queen release. Our findings revealed no significant adverse effects (p > 0.05) on colony strength at the end of the study resulting from queen caging. However, significantly lower amounts of honey were extracted from the QC1 group compared to both the QC2 group (p = 0.001) and the C group (p = 0.009). Although there were no initial differences in Varroa destructor infestation between the groups, ten weeks later, a significantly higher infestation was detected in the C group compared to both the QC1 group (p < 0.01) and the QC2 group (p = 0.003). Overall, our study demonstrates that queen caging, in combination with the use of OA, is an effective treatment for controlling V. destructor. However, the timing of caging plays a crucial role in honey production outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marin Kovačić
- Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek, J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, V. Preloga 1, 31000 Osijek, Croatia; (M.K.); (Z.P.)
| | - Aleksandar Uzunov
- Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia;
- State Key Laboratory of Resource Insects, Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
| | - Ivana Tlak Gajger
- Department for Biology and Pathology of Fish and Bees, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Heinzelova ul. 55, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
| | - Marco Pietropaoli
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana “M. Aleandri”, Via Appia Nuova 1411, 00178 Rome, Italy; (M.P.); (G.F.)
| | - Victoria Soroker
- Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), The Volcani Center, 68 HaMacabim Road, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel; (V.S.); (A.O.)
| | - Noureddine Adjlane
- Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Science, University of Boumerdes, 35000 Boumerdes, Algeria;
| | - Valerija Benko
- Department for Biology and Pathology of Fish and Bees, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Heinzelova ul. 55, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
| | - Leonidas Charistos
- Department of Apiculture, Institute of Animal Sciences, Ellinikos Georgikos Organismos “DIMITRA”, 63 200 Nea Moudania, Greece; (L.C.); (F.H.)
| | | | - Giovanni Formato
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana “M. Aleandri”, Via Appia Nuova 1411, 00178 Rome, Italy; (M.P.); (G.F.)
| | - Fani Hatjina
- Department of Apiculture, Institute of Animal Sciences, Ellinikos Georgikos Organismos “DIMITRA”, 63 200 Nea Moudania, Greece; (L.C.); (F.H.)
| | - Valeria Malagnini
- Fondazione Edmund Mach, Centro Trasferimento Tecnologico, Via E. Mach, 1 San Michele all’Adige, 38098 Trento, Italy; (V.M.); (F.F.)
| | - Fabrizio Freda
- Fondazione Edmund Mach, Centro Trasferimento Tecnologico, Via E. Mach, 1 San Michele all’Adige, 38098 Trento, Italy; (V.M.); (F.F.)
| | - Asaf Otmi
- Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), The Volcani Center, 68 HaMacabim Road, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel; (V.S.); (A.O.)
| | - Zlatko Puškadija
- Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek, J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, V. Preloga 1, 31000 Osijek, Croatia; (M.K.); (Z.P.)
| | - Claudio Villar
- Consejería de Agricultura de la Junta de Comunidades de Castilla La Mancha, 02600 Albacete, Spain;
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3
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DeBruin JH, Wilburn DB, Feldhoff RC, Staub NL. Presence of sodefrin precursor-like factor pheromone candidates in mental and dorsal tail base glands in the plethodontid salamander, Karsenia koreana. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0289296. [PMID: 37527281 PMCID: PMC10393140 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2022] [Accepted: 07/16/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Plethodontid salamanders are well known for their distinct courtship rituals and the associated pheromonal signaling. However, little is known about pheromones produced in the lone Asian plethodontid species Karsenia koreana. Here, we examined the localization patterns of proteins of the sodefrin precursor-like factor (SPF) pheromone system in K. koreana. Using an antibody generated against SPF proteins from another plethodontid, Desmognathus ocoee, we tested three types of skin glands in K. koreana males via immunohistochemistry: the mental gland and two types of dorsal tail base glands-caudal courtship glands and dorsal granular glands. SPF immunoreactivity was detected in the known courtship gland, the mental gland, as well as granular glands, but not in caudal courtship glands. Due to immunoreaction specificity, we hypothesize the proteins of the SPF system in K. koreana and D. ocoee are structurally and functionally related and are used as courtship pheromones in K. koreana. Also, we hypothesize that K. koreana males transmit SPF to the female during the tail-straddling walk via dorsal granular glands. Finally, K. koreana male caudal courtship glands may be producing SPF proteins that are not recognized by our SPF antibody or these glands may play a different role in courtship than anticipated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jared H DeBruin
- Department of Biology, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, United States of America
| | - Damien B Wilburn
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Richard C Feldhoff
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America
| | - Nancy L Staub
- Department of Biology, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, United States of America
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Molina-Montenegro MA, Acuña-Rodríguez IS, Ballesteros GI, Baldelomar M, Torres-Díaz C, Broitman BR, Vázquez DP. Electromagnetic fields disrupt the pollination service by honeybees. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadh1455. [PMID: 37172085 PMCID: PMC10181175 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh1455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
We assessed the effect that electromagnetic field (EMF) exerts on honeybees' pollination efficiency using field and laboratory experiments. First, we measured levels of gene and protein expression in metabolic pathways involved in stress and behavioral responses elicited by EMF. Second, we assessed the effect of EMF on honeybee behavior and seed production by the honeybee-pollinated California poppy and, lastly, by measuring the consequences of pollination failure on plants' community richness and abundance. EMF exposure exerted strong physiological stress on honeybees as shown by the enhanced expression of heat-shock proteins and genes involved in antioxidant activity and affected the expression levels of behavior-related genes. Moreover, California poppy individuals growing near EMF received fewer honeybee visits and produced fewer seeds than plants growing far from EMF. Last, we found a hump-shaped relationship between EMF and plant species richness and plant abundance. Our study provides conclusive evidence of detrimental impacts of EMF on honeybee's pollination behavior, leading to negative effects on plant community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco A. Molina-Montenegro
- Centro de Ecología Integrativa (CEI), Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Campus Talca, Talca, Chile
| | - Ian S. Acuña-Rodríguez
- Centro de Ecología Integrativa (CEI), Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Campus Talca, Talca, Chile
- Instituto de Investigación Interdisciplinaria (I), Universidad de Talca, Campus Talca, Talca, Chile
| | - Gabriel I. Ballesteros
- Centro de Ecología Integrativa (CEI), Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Campus Talca, Talca, Chile
- Instituto de Investigación Interdisciplinaria (I), Universidad de Talca, Campus Talca, Talca, Chile
| | - Mariela Baldelomar
- Centro de Ecología Integrativa (CEI), Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Campus Talca, Talca, Chile
| | - Cristian Torres-Díaz
- Grupo de Biodiversidad y Cambio Global (BCG), Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad del Bío-Bío, Chillán, Chile
| | - Bernardo R. Broitman
- Departamento de Ciencias, Facultad de Artes Liberales, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Viña del Mar, Chile
| | - Diego P. Vázquez
- Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas, CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
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5
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Santos PKF, Galbraith DA, Starkey J, Amsalem E. The effect of the brood and the queen on early gene expression in bumble bee workers' brains. Sci Rep 2022; 12:3018. [PMID: 35194064 PMCID: PMC8863840 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-06715-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2021] [Accepted: 02/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Worker reproduction in social insects is often regulated by the queen, but can be regulated by the brood and nestmates, who may use different mechanisms to induce the same outcomes in subordinates. Analysis of brain gene expression patterns in bumble bee workers (Bombus impatiens) in response to the presence of the queen, the brood, both or neither, identified 18 differentially expressed genes, 17 of them are regulated by the queen and none are regulated by the brood. Overall, brain gene expression differences in workers were driven by the queen's presence, despite recent studies showing that brood reduces worker egg laying and provides context to the queen pheromones. The queen affected important regulators of reproduction and brood care across insects, such as neuroparsin and vitellogenin, and a comparison with similar datasets in the honey bee and the clonal raider ant revealed that neuroparsin is differentially expressed in all species. These data emphasize the prominent role of the queen in regulating worker physiology and behavior. Genes that serve as key regulators of workers' reproduction are likely to play an important role in the evolution of sociality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Priscila K F Santos
- Department of Entomology, Center for Chemical Ecology, Center for Pollinator Research, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
| | - David A Galbraith
- Department of Entomology, Center for Chemical Ecology, Center for Pollinator Research, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Jesse Starkey
- Department of Entomology, Center for Chemical Ecology, Center for Pollinator Research, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Etya Amsalem
- Department of Entomology, Center for Chemical Ecology, Center for Pollinator Research, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
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6
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Rath A, Benita M, Doron J, Scharf I, Gottlieb D. Social communication activates the circadian gene Tctimeless in Tribolium castaneum. Sci Rep 2021; 11:16152. [PMID: 34373551 PMCID: PMC8352895 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-95588-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/22/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Chemical communication via pheromones is an integral component in insect behavior, particularly for mate searching and reproduction. Aggregation pheromones, that attract conspecifics of both sexes, are particularly common and have been identified for hundreds of species. These pheromones are among the most ecologically selective pest suppression agents. In this study, we identified an activating effect of the aggregation pheromone of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenibroidae) on a highly conserved circadian clock gene (Tctimeless). Tribolium castaneum is one of the most damaging cosmopolitan pest of flour and other stored food products. Its male produced aggregation pheromone, 4,8-dimethyldecanal (DMD), attracts both conspecific males and females and is used for pest management via monitoring and mating disruption. The Tctimeless gene is an essential component for daily expression patterns of the circadian clock and plays vital roles in eclosion, egg production, and embryonic development. In this study, we demonstrate that constant exposure to the species-specific aggregation pheromone led to Tctimeless up-regulation and a different pattern of rhythmic locomotive behavior. We propose that changing the well-adapted "alarm clock", using DMD is liable to reduce fitness and can be highly useful for pest management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Animesha Rath
- Department of Food Science, Institute of Post-Harvest and Food Science, The Volcani Center, ARO, Rishon LeZion, Israel
| | - Miriam Benita
- Department of Food Science, Institute of Post-Harvest and Food Science, The Volcani Center, ARO, Rishon LeZion, Israel
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Josef Doron
- Department of Food Science, Institute of Post-Harvest and Food Science, The Volcani Center, ARO, Rishon LeZion, Israel
| | - Inon Scharf
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Daphna Gottlieb
- Department of Food Science, Institute of Post-Harvest and Food Science, The Volcani Center, ARO, Rishon LeZion, Israel.
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7
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Zhang X, Hu H, Han B, Wei Q, Meng L, Wu F, Fang Y, Feng M, Ma C, Rueppell O, Li J. The Neuroproteomic Basis of Enhanced Perception and Processing of Brood Signals That Trigger Increased Reproductive Investment in Honeybee ( Apis mellifera) Workers. Mol Cell Proteomics 2020; 19:1632-1648. [PMID: 32669299 PMCID: PMC8014994 DOI: 10.1074/mcp.ra120.002123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2020] [Revised: 07/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The neuronal basis of complex social behavior is still poorly understood. In honeybees, reproductive investment decisions are made at the colony-level. Queens develop from female-destined larvae that receive alloparental care from nurse bees in the form of ad-libitum royal jelly (RJ) secretions. Typically, the number of raised new queens is limited but genetic breeding of "royal jelly bees" (RJBs) for enhanced RJ production over decades has led to a dramatic increase of reproductive investment in queens. Here, we compare RJBs to unselected Italian bees (ITBs) to investigate how their cognitive processing of larval signals in the mushroom bodies (MBs) and antennal lobes (ALs) may contribute to their behavioral differences. A cross-fostering experiment confirms that the RJB syndrome is mainly due to a shift in nurse bee alloparental care behavior. Using olfactory conditioning of the proboscis extension reflex, we show that the RJB nurses spontaneously respond more often to larval odors compared with ITB nurses but their subsequent learning occurs at similar rates. These phenotypic findings are corroborated by our demonstration that the proteome of the brain, particularly of the ALs differs between RJBs and ITBs. Notably, in the ALs of RJB newly emerged bees and nurses compared with ITBs, processes of energy and nutrient metabolism, signal transduction are up-regulated, priming the ALs for receiving and processing the brood signals from the antennae. Moreover, highly abundant major royal jelly proteins and hexamerins in RJBs compared with ITBs during early life when the nervous system still develops suggest crucial new neurobiological roles for these well-characterized proteins. Altogether, our findings reveal that RJBs have evolved a strong olfactory response to larvae, enabled by numerous neurophysiological adaptations that increase the nurse bees' alloparental care behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xufeng Zhang
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China; Institute of Horticultural Research, Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Han Hu
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Bin Han
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Qiaohong Wei
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Lifeng Meng
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Fan Wu
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yu Fang
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Mao Feng
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Chuan Ma
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Olav Rueppell
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.
| | - Jianke Li
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
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Guoth AW, Chernyshova AM, Thompson GJ. Gene-regulatory context of honey bee worker sterility. Biosystems 2020; 198:104235. [PMID: 32882324 DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2020.104235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2020] [Revised: 07/29/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The highly organized societies of the Western honey bee Apis mellifera feature a highly reproductive queen at the center of attention and a large cohort of daughters that suppress their own reproduction to help rear more sisters, some of whom become queens themselves. This reproductive altruism is peculiar because in theory it evolves via indirect selection on genes for altruism that are expressed in the sterile workers but not in the reproductive queens. In this study we attempt to situate lists of genes previously implicated in queenright worker sterility into a broader regulatory framework. To do so we use a model bee brain transcriptional regulatory network as a template to infer how sets of genes responsive to ovary-suppressing queen pheromone are functionally interconnected over the model's topology. We predict that genes jointly involved in the regulation of worker sterility should be tightly networked, relative to genes whose functions are unrelated to each other. We find that sets of mapped genes - ranging in size from 17 to 250 - are well dispersed across the network's substructural scaffolds, suggesting that ovary de-activation involves genes that reside within more than one transcriptional regulatory module. For some sets, however, this dispersion is biased into certain areas of the network's substructure. Our analysis identifies the regions enriched for sterility genes and likewise identifies local hub genes that are presumably critical to subnetwork function. Our work offers a glimpse into the gene regulatory context of honey bee worker sterility and uses this context to identify new candidate gene targets for functional analysis. Finally, to the extent that any sterility-related modules identified here have evolved via selection for worker altruism, we can assume that this selection was indirect and of the type specifically invoked by inclusive fitness theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex W Guoth
- Biology Department, Western University, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada
| | - Anna M Chernyshova
- Biology Department, Western University, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada
| | - Graham J Thompson
- Biology Department, Western University, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada.
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9
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Friedman DA, Johnson BR, Linksvayer TA. Distributed physiology and the molecular basis of social life in eusocial insects. Horm Behav 2020; 122:104757. [PMID: 32305342 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2019] [Revised: 03/30/2020] [Accepted: 04/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The traditional focus of physiological and functional genomic research is on molecular processes that play out within a single multicellular organism. In the colonial (eusocial) insects such as ants, bees, and termites, molecular and behavioral responses of interacting nestmates are tightly linked, and key physiological processes are regulated at the scale of the colony. Such colony-level physiological processes regulate nestmate physiology in a distributed fashion, through various social communication mechanisms. As a result of physiological decentralization over evolutionary time, organismal mechanisms, for example related to pheromone detection, hormone signaling, and neural signaling pathways, are deployed in novel contexts to influence nestmate and colony traits. Here we explore how functional genomic, physiological, and behavioral studies can benefit from considering the traits of eusocial insects in this light. We highlight functional genomic work exploring how nestmate-level and colony-level traits arise and are influenced by interactions among physiologically-specialized nestmates of various developmental stages. We also consider similarities and differences between nestmate-level (organismal) and colony-level (superorganismal) physiological processes, and make specific hypotheses regarding the physiology of eusocial taxa. Integrating theoretical models of distributed systems with empirical functional genomics approaches will be useful in addressing fundamental questions related to the evolution of eusociality and collective behavior in natural systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- D A Friedman
- University of California, Davis, Department of Entomology, Davis, CA 95616, United States of America.
| | - B R Johnson
- University of California, Davis, Department of Entomology, Davis, CA 95616, United States of America
| | - T A Linksvayer
- University of Pennsylvania, Department of Biology, Pennsylvania, PA 19104, United States of America
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