Department of Entomology, University of California Riverside, 900 University Ave, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA.
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada.
BMC Genomics. 2019 Nov 22;20(1):867. doi: 10.1186/s12864-019-6172-5.
Recent research has revealed that polymorphic behavioral strategies shape intra-and interspecific interactions and contribute to fitness in many animal species. A better understanding of the proximate mechanisms underlying these behavioral syndromes will enhance our grasp this phenomenon. Spiders in the genus Anelosimus exhibit inter-individual behavioral variation on several axes: individuals have consistent responses to stimuli (e.g. bold vs. shy individuals) and they are subsocial (exhibiting extended maternal care and sibling cooperation) across most of their range, but they sometimes form permanent social groups in northern temperate regions. Here, we seek genetic variants associated with boldness and with social structure in a socially polymorphic population of the spider Anelosimus studiosus. We also develop preliminary genomic resources, including a genome assembly and linkage map, that support this and future genomic research on this group.
Remarkably, we identify a small genomic scaffold (~ 1200 bp) that harbors seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with boldness. Moreover, heterozygotes are less common than expected based on Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, suggesting that either assortative mating or selection against heterozygotes may be occurring in this system. We find no loci significantly associated with social organization. Our draft genome assembly allows us to localize SNPs of interest in this study and to carry out genetic comparisons with other published genomes, although it remains highly fragmented.
By identifying a locus associated with a well-studied animal personality trait, this study opens up avenues for future research to link behavioral studies of animal personality with genotype and fitness.
最近的研究表明，多态行为策略塑造了种内和种间的相互作用，并为许多动物物种的适应性做出了贡献。更好地理解这些行为综合征的潜在机制将增强我们对这一现象的理解。蛛形纲的 Anelosimus 属蜘蛛在几个轴上表现出个体间的行为变异：个体对刺激有一致的反应（例如，大胆的个体与害羞的个体），并且在它们的大部分分布范围内都是亚社会的（表现出延长的母性照顾和兄弟姐妹合作），但它们有时在北温带地区形成永久性的社会群体。在这里，我们在社会性多态的 Anelosimus studiosus 蜘蛛种群中寻找与大胆和社会结构相关的遗传变异。我们还开发了初步的基因组资源，包括基因组组装和连锁图谱，这为该群体的未来基因组研究提供了支持。
值得注意的是，我们鉴定出一个含有七个与大胆相关的单核苷酸多态性（SNP）的小基因组支架（~1200bp）。此外，杂合子比 Hardy-Weinberg 平衡预期的要少，这表明在这个系统中可能存在交配选择或对杂合子的选择。我们没有发现与社会组织显著相关的基因座。我们的基因组草图组装使我们能够在这个研究中定位感兴趣的 SNP，并与其他已发表的基因组进行遗传比较，尽管它仍然高度碎片化。
通过鉴定与一个研究良好的动物个性特征相关的基因座，这项研究为未来的研究开辟了途径，将动物个性的行为研究与基因型和适应性联系起来。
