Takata Mamoru, Takahashi Michihiko, Ishibashi Tomoki, Tasaki Eisuke, Rueppell Olav, Vargo Edward L, Matsuura Kenji
Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Jun 17;122(24):e2509506122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2509506122. Epub 2025 Jun 13.
The discovery of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and the unraveling of its molecular mechanisms are currently solving previously puzzling challenges that Mendelian genetics based solely on DNA could not explain, leading to significant paradigm shifts across various fields of biology. There has been a long-standing controversy over the factors determining the caste fate of individuals in social insects. Increasing evidence supports heritable influences on division of labor. Here, we provide evidence that transgenerational epigenetic inheritance influences caste determination in a termite. We demonstrate that the age of the king influences the caste fate of offspring, with young kings' progeny showing a higher tendency for reproductive differentiation compared to offspring from older kings (under controlled conditions). Then, we conducted a high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly for the Japanese subterranean termite . Genome-wide methylome analysis of kings' sperm reveals a drastic change in DNA methylation patterns with aging. Among 39,399,411 CpG sites, 21,611 sites showed significant age differences in methylation levels. We identified 13 genes whose methylation levels are significantly different between young and old kings and suggestively correlated with the offspring's differentiation into the reproductive pathway. Our results suggest that sperm DNA methylation, which changes with the age of kings, is a potential transgenerational epigenetic factor involved in offspring caste differentiation in a termite. These findings may have broad applicability to caste differentiation in social insects and to phenotypic plasticity more generally.
跨代表观遗传继承的发现及其分子机制的揭示,目前正在解决仅基于DNA的孟德尔遗传学无法解释的先前令人困惑的挑战,导致生物学各个领域发生重大范式转变。关于决定社会性昆虫个体等级命运的因素,长期以来一直存在争议。越来越多的证据支持遗传对分工的影响。在这里,我们提供证据表明跨代表观遗传继承影响白蚁的等级决定。我们证明蚁王的年龄会影响后代的等级命运,与年老蚁王的后代相比,年轻蚁王的后代在生殖分化方面表现出更高的倾向(在受控条件下)。然后,我们对日本地下白蚁进行了高质量的染色体水平基因组组装。对蚁王精子的全基因组甲基化组分析揭示了随着年龄增长DNA甲基化模式的剧烈变化。在39399411个CpG位点中,有21611个位点的甲基化水平存在显著的年龄差异。我们鉴定出13个基因,其甲基化水平在年轻和年老蚁王之间存在显著差异,并暗示与后代向生殖途径的分化相关。我们的结果表明,随着蚁王年龄变化的精子DNA甲基化是参与白蚁后代等级分化的一个潜在的跨代表观遗传因素。这些发现可能广泛适用于社会性昆虫的等级分化以及更普遍的表型可塑性。