Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Curr Opin Insect Sci. 2024 Dec;66:101259. doi: 10.1016/j.cois.2024.101259. Epub 2024 Sep 5.
The past decade of social insect research has seen rapid development in automated behavioral tracking and molecular profiling of the nervous system, two distinct but complementary lines of inquiry into phenotypic variation across individuals, colonies, populations, and species. These experimental strategies have developed largely in parallel, as automated tracking generates a continuous stream of behavioral data, while, in contrast, 'omics-based profiling provides a single 'snapshot' of the brain. Better integration of these approaches applied to studying variation in social behavior will reveal the underlying genetic and neurobiological mechanisms that shape the evolution and diversification of social life. In this review, we discuss relevant advances in both fields and propose new strategies to better elucidate the molecular and behavioral innovations that generate social life.
过去十年的社会性昆虫研究见证了自动化行为追踪和神经系统分子分析这两个领域的飞速发展，这两个领域分别从个体、群体、种群和物种等不同层面探究表型变化，是两种截然不同但又互为补充的研究方法。这两种实验策略的发展基本是平行的，因为自动化追踪产生了源源不断的行为数据，而与之相反，基于“组学”的分析则提供了大脑的单一“快照”。将这些方法更好地整合应用于研究社会行为的变化，将揭示出塑造社会生活进化和多样化的潜在遗传和神经生物学机制。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了这两个领域的相关进展，并提出了新的策略，以更好地阐明产生社会生活的分子和行为创新。
