Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Canada.
Genome Biol Evol. 2023 Jul 3;15(7). doi: 10.1093/gbe/evad117.
Rudimentary social systems have the potential to both advance our understanding of how complex sociality may have evolved and our understanding of how changes in social environment may influence gene expression and cooperation. Recently, studies of primitively social Hymenoptera have greatly expanded empirical evidence for the role of social environment in shaping behavior and gene expression. Here, we compare brain gene expression profiles of foragers across social contexts in the small carpenter bee, Ceratina calcarata. We conducted experimental manipulations of field colonies to examine gene expression profiles among social contexts including foraging mothers, regular daughters, and worker-like dwarf eldest daughters in the presence and absence of mother. Our analysis found significant differences in gene expression associated with female age, reproductive status, and social environment, including circadian clock gene dyw, hexamerin, and genes involved in the regulation of juvenile hormone and chemical communication. We also found that candidate genes differentially expressed in our study were also associated with division of labor, including foraging, in other primitively and advanced eusocial insects. Our results offer evidence for the role of the regulation of key developmental hormones and circadian rhythms in producing cooperative behavior in rudimentary insect societies.
原始社会系统有可能增进我们对于复杂社会性如何演化，以及社会环境变化如何影响基因表达和合作的理解。最近，对于原始群居膜翅目昆虫的研究极大地扩展了社会环境在塑造行为和基因表达方面的作用的经验证据。在这里，我们比较了小型木工蜂（Ceratina calcarata）觅食者在不同社会环境中的大脑基因表达谱。我们通过野外群体的实验操作，研究了包括觅食母亲、正常女儿和工蜂般的矮大姐女儿在内的不同社会环境中的基因表达谱，以及母亲存在和不存在的情况下的基因表达谱。我们的分析发现，与女性年龄、生殖状态和社会环境相关的基因表达存在显著差异，包括昼夜节律钟基因 dyw、六聚体蛋白和参与调节保幼激素和化学通讯的基因。我们还发现，我们研究中差异表达的候选基因也与其他原始和高级真社会性昆虫中的觅食等分工有关。我们的结果为关键发育激素和昼夜节律的调节在原始昆虫社会中产生合作行为提供了证据。
