Rueppell Olav
Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1000 Spring Garden Street, Greensboro, NC, 27403, USA.
Behav Genet. 2009 Sep;39(5):541-53. doi: 10.1007/s10519-009-9278-8. Epub 2009 May 17.
Identifying the basis of quantitative trait loci (QTL) remains challenging for the study of complex traits, such as behavior. The honey bee is a good model combining interesting social behavior with a high recombination rate that facilitates this identification. Several studies have focused on the pollen hoarding syndrome, identifying multiple QTL as the genetic basis of its behavioral components. One component, the age of first foraging, is central for colony organization and four QTL were previously described without identification of their genomic location. Enabled by the honey bee genome project, this study provides data from multiple experiments to scrutinize these QTL, including individual and pooled SNP mapping, sequencing of AFLP markers, and microsatellite genotyping. The combined evidence confirms and localizes two of the previous QTL on chromosome four and five, dismisses the other two, and suggests one novel genomic region on chromosome eleven to influence the age of first foraging. Among the positional candidates the Ank2, PKC, Erk7, and amontillado genes stand out due to corroborating functional evidence. This study thus demonstrates the power of combined, genome-based approaches to enable targeted studies of a manageable set of candidate genes for natural behavioral variation in the important, complex social trait "age of first foraging".
对于行为等复杂性状的研究而言，确定数量性状基因座（QTL）的基础仍然具有挑战性。蜜蜂是一个很好的模型，它将有趣的社会行为与高重组率相结合，有助于这种识别。几项研究集中在花粉贮藏综合征上，确定了多个QTL作为其行为成分的遗传基础。其中一个成分，首次觅食的年龄，对蜂群组织至关重要，之前描述了四个QTL，但未确定其基因组位置。在蜜蜂基因组计划的推动下，本研究提供了来自多个实验的数据来仔细研究这些QTL，包括个体和混合SNP定位、AFLP标记测序以及微卫星基因分型。综合证据证实并定位了之前在第四条和第五条染色体上的两个QTL，否定了另外两个，并表明第十一条染色体上有一个新的基因组区域影响首次觅食的年龄。在位置候选基因中，Ank2、PKC、Erk7和阿蒙提拉多基因由于确凿的功能证据而脱颖而出。因此，本研究证明了基于基因组的综合方法在针对重要复杂社会性状“首次觅食年龄”的自然行为变异进行一组可管理的候选基因靶向研究方面的强大作用。
