Genetic basis of social behavior in honey bee and other insect models

蜜蜂和其他昆虫模型社会行为的遗传基础

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-05647
• 负责人: Thompson, Graham
• 金额: $ 3.64万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=745913
• 关键词: Genetic; basis; social; behavior; honey

My research program in insect sociobiology integrates genomics and kin theory to reveal the genetic basis of eusocial behavior. My research rationale is straightforward: for 50 years kin theory has provided a gene-based explanation for eusociality, but by and large we have yet to identify the genes involved. Over the past five years, my students and I have employed advanced molecular and computational approaches to pinpoint the genes that underlie one quintessentially eusocial trait: reproductive altruism in worker honeybees. We have now begun to show how gene action is coordinated at a systems level and our work thus provides a clear bridge between theory and discovery. This progressive molecular analysis - from gene theory to gene screen to gene network - vastly expands the traditional scope of social insect molecular biology and now forms the working theme for my research program. My previous DG has enabled my students and I to exploit a second, more tractable insect model that complements our findings from the honeybee. Drosophila is not eusocial and thus has no sterile caste, but my lab discovered that application of the queen bee pheromone can prompt female flies into a state of worker-like sterility. The potential of a bee-derived chemical cue to induce functional sterility in a non-eusocial insect is remarkable and paves an exciting experimental avenue for my current grant. Our findings suggest that this pseudo-social response from flies is homologous to the stereotypical response from honeybees and mediated by genetic variation at loci involved in pheromone perception and ovary de-activation. In this grant, I make full use of Drosophila mutant and transgenic lines to reveal which loci beyond the identified few actually regulate female 'sterility' in response to ovary-inhibiting signal. This innovative use of a Drosophila model to uncover genetic secrets of the honeybee is catching on in labs around the world and has garnered media interest, too! Finally, my previous DG enabled my lab to compare our bee-related findings against another eusocial insect that is fundamentally different from any Hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps). Termites are related to cockroaches and make up the oldest eusocial taxa yet are rarely used as vehicles for eusocial gene discovery. Our analyses of termite genomes provide a much-needed point of contrast against the better studied haplo-diploid eusocial Hymenoptera and our work thus helps to fill this gap and reveal how common or different are the genes and genomic patterns that accompany and potentially drive eusocial evolution in different insect taxa. Indeed, as the field of sociobiology continues to mature towards a general and integrated theory of social life, my three-model research program is well-positioned to grow and develop along with it - it is ideal for training students in molecular technique and application of kin theory, as well as engages the apicultural and pest control sectors of industry.

我在昆虫社会生物学方面的研究计划整合了基因组学和亲属理论，以揭示依恋社会行为的遗传基础。我的研究基本原理很简单：50年来，亲属理论一直为欧洲社会性提供了基于基因的解释，但总体而言，我们尚未确定所涉及的基因。在过去的五年中，我和我的学生采用了先进的分子和计算方法来指出一个基于一个典型的互联性特征的基因：工人蜜蜂中的生殖利他主义。现在，我们已经开始展示如何在系统层面上协调基因动作，因此我们的工作为理论和发现之间提供了清晰的桥梁。从基因理论到基因筛选到基因网络，这种渐进的分子分析极大地扩展了社交昆虫分子生物学的传统范围，现在构成了我的研究计划的工作主题。 我以前的DG使我和我的学生能够利用第二个更可行的昆虫模型，从而补充了我们从Honeybee中发现的结果。果蝇不是异地社会的，因此没有无菌种姓，但是我的实验室发现，女王蜜蜂信息素的应用会促使雌性苍蝇进入工人般的不育状态。蜜蜂衍生的化学提示在非社会昆虫中诱导功能不育的潜力是显着的，它为我目前的赠款铺平了令人兴奋的实验途径。我们的发现表明，这种来自苍蝇的伪社会反应与蜜蜂的刻板印象反应是同源的，并由参与信息素感知和卵巢去激活的基因座的遗传变异介导。在这笔赠款中，我充分利用了果蝇突变体和转基因线，以揭示哪个基因座超出识别的基因座实际上调节了女性“不育”，以响应卵巢抑制信号。这种果蝇模型的创新使用在世界各地的实验室中都吸引了霍尼比的遗传秘密，并且也引起了媒体的兴趣！最后，我以前的DG使我的实验室能够将我们与蜜蜂相关的发现与另一种与任何膜翅目（蜜蜂，蚂蚁，黄蜂）根本不同的共性昆虫进行比较。白蚁与蟑螂有关，构成最古老的欧洲社会类群，但很少被用作Eusocial Gene发现的车辆。我们对白蚁基因组的分析提供了急需的对比点，与所研究的单倍体二倍体二倍体心膜翅目对比度，因此我们的工作有助于填补这一空白，并揭示基因和基因组和基因组模式与不同昆虫分类中伴随并潜在地驱动Esococial进化的常见或基因组模式。的确，随着社会生物学领域继续朝着社会生活的一般和综合理论发展成熟，我的三模型研究计划与它一起成长和发展良好 - 它是培训分子技术和亲属理论的应用以及培训养蜂和培养性控制领域的分子技术和应用的理想选择。