SGER: A Non-Behavioral Protocol for Queen vs. Worker Discrimination in Paperwasps

非技术摘要9811612 PI：亨特，J.生物学中的一个中心问题是生物体基因与其发育之间的关系。生物体的每个细胞都含有相同的基因，但有些发育成肝细胞，另一些发育成神经细胞，等等。当亲缘关系密切的个体，比如兄弟姐妹，在不同的环境条件下发育，导致生长模式或成体形态、生理和行为的显著差异时，整个有机体水平上也会出现类似的现象。群居昆虫的CAST发育就是这种现象的最好例子之一。通过定量研究黄蜂Polistes metricus中蜂王和工蜂之间的许多差异，这项研究将探索对种姓决定的可能解释，这种解释超越了传统的观点，即种姓决定是通过该物种和其他原始社会物种中成年人之间的行为互动来进行的。它探索了一种假设，即大多数种姓差异可能与发育期间的营养有关。这些研究的结果可能会对关于种姓如何在许多群居昆虫物种中确定的想法产生重要影响。这样的研究对于理解细微的环境差异可以深刻影响成年人的形态、生理和行为的方式非常重要。

Nontechnical Abstract 9811612 PI: Hunt, J. A central problem in biology is the relationship between an organisms genes and its development. Each cell of an organism contains the same genes and yet some develop into liver cells, others into nerve cells and so on. A similar phenomenon at the whole-organism level occurs when closely related individuals, say siblings, develop in different environment conditions that lead to substantial differences in the growth patterns or adult morphology, physiology and behavior. Cast development in social insects is one of the best examples of this phenomenon. By quantitatively exploring the many differences between queens and workers in the paper wasp, Polistes metricus, this research will explore possible explanations for caste determination that go beyond the traditional idea that caste determination occurs through behavioral interactions among adults in this and other primitively social species. It explores the hypothesis that most caste differences can be linked to nutrition during development. The outcomes of these studies could have an important impact on ideas about how caste is determined in many social insect species. Such studies are important for understanding the ways in which subtle environmental differences can profoundly influence adult morphology, physiology and behavior.