CAREER: Sterility inducing mechanisms in social insects

职业：社会性昆虫的不育诱导机制

• 批准号: 1942127
• 负责人: Etya Amsalem
• 金额: $ 102万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1942127&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Sterility; inducing; mechanisms; social

Reproduction in social insect societies is dominated by one or a few females and exhibits one of the most fascinating phenomena in social behavior; some individuals forego reproduction and only raise their siblings. Such an extreme reproductive skew is maintained by sophisticated behavioral and chemical mechanisms and requires the transfer of genetic traits which encode behaviors that seemingly sabotage their own inheritance. This project seeks to understand how social insect reproduction is regulated by examining the behavioral, chemical and genetic regulators of worker sterility at different scales within a single species of bumblebee. Bumblebee life cycles span several levels of social organization, allowing the unique opportunity to study changes in regulatory patterns of reproduction as the colony develops. These discoveries will lay the groundwork for future studies of the mechanisms underlying worker sterility, the evolution of sociality and social communication. The integrative nature of this research creates a unique platform to increase diversity by targeting underrepresented groups at different stages of development. This will be accomplished by (1) developing a novel, yearly program to increase networking and exposure to science in underserved populations of undergraduate students in Pennsylvania; (2) developing an insect communication module for the Upward Bound Program that exposes promising low income and first-generation high school students to college experiences; and (3) using the qualities of bumblebees as key worldwide pollinators to increase awareness of the importance of pollinators in K-8 students. Funds will support an interdisciplinary training in behavior, chemical ecology, and genomics to students and scholars. The mechanistic basis of pheromones regulating reproduction in the sterile worker caste of social insects is one of the greatest puzzles in social evolution since helper females refrain from reproduction (seemingly against their interests), and the signaling systems maintaining reproductive division of labor are susceptible for cheating. This CAREER project examines the behavioral, chemical and genetic mechanisms regulating reproduction in insects and the role the social context plays in shaping these interactions. The team will: (1) Characterize the synergetic effects of behavioral and chemical signaling regulating reproduction; (2) Examine the importance of social context to the regulatory mechanisms; (3) Unveil the genetic regulation of workers’ brain gene expression responses to cues regulating reproduction. The project focuses on the reproductive mechanisms used by a sole queen, nestmate workers and the brood in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens. These efforts will uncover the interplay between dominance behavior and chemical signaling in regulating reproduction and the genetic basis of sterility-inducing pheromones.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

社会性昆虫社会的繁殖由一只或几只雌性主导，并表现出社会行为中最令人着迷的现象之一；有些人放弃生育，只抚养他们的兄弟姐妹。这种极端的生殖偏差是由复杂的行为和化学机制维持的，并且需要遗传特征的转移，这些遗传特征编码的行为似乎破坏了自己的遗传。该项目旨在通过检查单个熊蜂物种不同规模工蜂不育的行为、化学和遗传调节因子，了解社会性昆虫繁殖是如何受到调节的。大黄蜂的生命周期跨越了社会组织的多个层面，为研究蜂群发展过程中繁殖调节模式的变化提供了独特的机会。这些发现将为未来研究工蚁不育的机制、社会性和社会交流的演变奠定基础。 这项研究的综合性质创造了一个独特的平台，通过针对不同发展阶段的代表性不足的群体来增加多样性。这将通过以下方式实现：(1) 制定一项新颖的年度计划，以增加宾夕法尼亚州服务不足的本科生群体的人脉网络和科学接触机会； (2) 为向上发展计划开发昆虫交流模块，让有前途的低收入和第一代高中生接触大学经历； (3) 利用熊蜂作为全球主要授粉媒介的特性，提高 K-8 学生对授粉媒介重要性的认识。资金将支持对学生和学者进行行为、化学生态学和基因组学的跨学科培训。社会性昆虫的不育工蚁种姓中信息素调节繁殖的机制基础是社会进化中最大的谜题之一，因为雌性助工者不进行繁殖（似乎违背了它们的利益），而维持生殖分工的信号系统很容易被欺骗。该职业项目研究了调节昆虫繁殖的行为、化学和遗传机制，以及社会环境在塑造这些相互作用中所起的作用。该团队将：（1）表征行为和化学信号传导调节繁殖的协同效应； (2) 审视社会背景对监管机制的重要性； (3)揭示工人大脑基因表达对调节生殖线索的反应的遗传调控。该项目的重点是熊蜂 Bombus impatiens 中的唯一蜂王、同巢工蜂和巢穴所使用的繁殖机制。这些努力将揭示支配行为和调节生殖的化学信号之间的相互作用以及诱导不育信息素的遗传基础。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。