Comparative Genomics, Molecular Evolution, and the Evolution of Bee Societies

生物学的一个主要挑战是了解动物社会是如何进化的。蜜蜂特别有趣，因为不同的物种展示了自然界中存在的全部社会性，从孤独到社区到高度社会性，其中个体（“工人”）照顾兄弟姐妹而不是繁殖自己。分子工具刚刚变得可用，允许一个新的方法来解决社会性问题。这项提议建立在10只独居蜜蜂和社会蜜蜂的1GB基因组序列的可用性基础上，PI将免费获得NSF以及罗氏公司的特别奖励。将确定在昆虫社会进化过程中发生变化的基因;这些基因可能是社会进化的原动力。基因也将被用来检验一个著名的理论，即工人的行为是从母亲的照顾中进化出来的。这个项目为社会进化的研究开辟了一条新的途径。它将有助于重要物种基因组资源的开发，这是NSF的战略目标，将对所有生物学产生影响。它还将为研究生和本科生提供整合进化生物学，行为学，分子生物学，基因组学和生物信息学的方法的培训。

A major challenge in biology is to understand how animal societies have evolved. Bees are especially interesting because different species display the full range of sociality that exists in nature, from solitary to communal to highly social, in which individuals ("workers") care for siblings rather than reproduce themselves. Molecular tools are just becoming available that permit a new approach to questions about sociality. This proposal builds on the availability of one gigabyte of genome sequence for 10 solitary and social bees, which the PI is obtaining at no cost to NSF in conjunction with a special award from Roche Inc. Genes will be identified that have changed during the evolution of insect societies; these might be prime movers in social evolution. Genes also will be used to test a prominent theory hypothesizing that worker behavior evolved from maternal care.This project charts a new avenue of study on the evolution of societies. It will contribute to the development of genomic resources for important species, an NSF strategic goal that will have benefits across all of biology. It will also provide training to graduate students and undergraduates in an approach that integrates evolutionary biology, behavior, molecular biology, genomics, and bioinformatics.