The ageing bee: how does sociality affect ageing in social animals?

衰老的蜜蜂：社交性如何影响群居动物的衰老？

• 批准号: 2575849
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of East Anglia
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2575849
• 关键词: ageing; bee; how; does; sociality

Explaining patterns of ageing in organisms is essential for both our understanding of the diversity of life histories and our ability to manipulate them in beneficial ways. Yet, despite the overall success of the evolutionary theory of ageing, substantial gaps in our understanding remain. How ageing interacts with sociality is unclear and, specifically, in social animals, it remains unknown whether longevity and ageing depend primarily on properties of the individual or group, at either phenotypic or genetic levels. This project's main aim is to resolve these fundamental questions using experimental and genetic approaches in the bumble bee Bombus terrestris -- a model eusocial organism and a key pollinator. We have found that B. terrestris workers produced early in the colony cycle have significantly greater longevities than later-produced workers. The project's specific objectives will therefore be to discriminate between individual- and group-level hypotheses for this difference using experiments to measure the longevities and gene expression levels of workers as a function of individual and social factors.Working with B. terrestris colonies in the laboratory at UEA, the student will design and perform experiments to separate out individual and social influences on longevity. For example, experiments will test whether young workers transferred from early-stage colonies into late-stage colonies live longer or shorter lives (Objective 1). In similar experiments, the student will use quantitative PCR (qPCR) to determine whether genes in ageing-associated pathways change their expression levels in response to such manipulations (Objective 2). Alongside training opportunities provided by the DTP, the student will receive research training and generic, transferable training within the supervisors' research groups. Research training will provide expertise in bee ecology, evolutionary theory and pollinator biology plus advanced skills in insect husbandry, experimental design, molecular techniques (RNA extraction, qPCR) and data analysis. Generic, transferable training will cover project management, written and oral communication and career development. The student will be encouraged to shape the project's direction as it develops.

解释生物体中衰老的模式对于我们对生活历史多样性的理解和以有益的方式操纵它们的能力至关重要。然而，尽管衰老的进化理论的整体成功，但我们理解的巨大差距仍然存在。衰老如何与社会性相互作用尚不清楚，具体来说，在社会动物中，在表型或遗传水平上，寿命和衰老主要取决于个人或群体的特性。该项目的主要目的是使用大黄蜂bombus terrestris中的实验和遗传方法解决这些基本问题，这是一种模型的Eusocial生物体和关键的授粉媒介。我们发现，在菌落周期早期生产的陆星工人比后来生产的工人的寿命明显高得多。因此，该项目的具体目标将是使用实验来区分这种差异的个人和群体级别的假设，以测量工人的寿命和基因表达水平，这是个人和社会因素的函数。在UEA实验室中使用B. terrestris clonies在UEA的地球芽孢杆菌殖民地工作，学生将设计和执行实验，以分离个人和社交对孤独的影响。例如，实验将测试年轻工人是否从早期殖民地转移到晚期殖民地的寿命更长或更短的寿命（目标1）。在类似的实验中，学生将使用定量PCR（QPCR）来确定与年龄相关的途径中的基因是否会因这种操作而改变其表达水平（目标2）。除了DTP提供的培训机会外，学生还将在主管研究小组中接受研究培训和通用，可转移的培训。研究培训将在蜜蜂生态学，进化论和传粉媒介生物学以及昆虫饲养，实验设计，分子技术（RNA提取，QPCR）和数据分析方面提供专业知识。通用，可转移的培训将涵盖项目管理，书面和口头交流以及职业发展。将鼓励学生随着项目的发展而塑造该项目的方向。