NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Identifying the mechanisms that link social environment to physiological plasticity in an incipiently social orchid bee

2021 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：确定将社会环境与早期社会性兰花蜂的生理可塑性联系起来的机制

• 批准号: 2109456
• 负责人: Nicholas Saleh
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Saleh, Nicholas William
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2109456&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. This research examines how fundamental aspects of social behavior evolved in eusocial insects (such as honey bees and ants where there is only a few reproductive adults within a large colony), leading to their success across diverse ecosystems. This research will use orchid bees, close relatives of honey bees that form social groups of only two or three individuals, to perform experiments, varying social conditions to understand how basic social interaction influences physiology. This work fills a gap in our understanding of social evolution by exploring how physiology first becomes sensitive to social environment, an important step in the evolution of the specialized queens and workers of eusocial species. This research will involve outreach in collaboration with Florida public nature centers as well as community science projects documenting orchid bee nesting across Florida.Eusocial insects exhibit remarkable phenotypic plasticity, with individuals capable of altering behavior and physiology in response to changes in their social environment. This is demonstrated by worker individuals that inactivate their ovaries in response to the presence of a reproductive queen. Although this socially regulated physiology is found across eusocial species, little is known about the mechanisms that link social environment to physiology in the early stages of social evolution. This understanding is hindered by the lack of model systems that are closely related to eusocial species while still retaining a simple social structure. In this study, using the orchid bee Euglossa dilemma, a close relative of honey bees that forms small social groups of two or three, the fellow will 1) identify the social stimuli that regulate physiological plasticity and 2) uncover the links between this plasticity and social environment. First, an experiment will be conducted, varying the age of brood and the timing of adult social interaction to examine how social environment mediates physiological plasticity. Second, gene expression and hormone levels will be assessed to test the hypothesis that social cues are detected by the antennae, integrated in the brain, and then communicated across tissues via specific hormone pathways. This work will allow the fellow to develop Euglossa dilemma as a model for social evolution and involve training of undergraduate and graduate students in molecular techniques.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.

该行动资助了2021财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，即调查基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。 这项研究探讨了社会行为的基本方面是如何在真社会性昆虫（如蜜蜂和蚂蚁，在一个大的殖民地内只有少数生殖成年人）中进化的，从而使它们在不同的生态系统中取得成功。这项研究将使用兰花蜜蜂，蜜蜂的近亲，形成只有两个或三个个体的社会群体，进行实验，改变社会条件，以了解基本的社会互动如何影响生理。这项工作填补了我们对社会进化的理解的空白，探索了生理学如何首先对社会环境变得敏感，这是真社会物种的专业女王和工人进化的重要一步。这项研究将涉及与佛罗里达公共自然中心以及社区科学项目合作的推广，记录兰花蜜蜂在佛罗里达筑巢。真社会性昆虫表现出显着的表型可塑性，个体能够改变行为和生理反应，以应对社会环境的变化。这一点可以通过工蜂个体对生殖女王的存在做出反应而使卵巢变大来证明。虽然这种社会调节的生理学在真社会性物种中发现，但人们对社会进化早期阶段社会环境与生理学之间的联系机制知之甚少。这种理解受到缺乏模型系统的阻碍，这些模型系统与真社会性物种密切相关，同时仍然保留着简单的社会结构。在这项研究中，使用兰花蜜蜂Euglossa困境，蜜蜂的近亲，形成两个或三个小的社会群体，研究员将1）确定调节生理可塑性的社会刺激，2）揭示这种可塑性和社会环境之间的联系。首先，将进行一项实验，改变育雏的年龄和成人社会互动的时间，以研究社会环境如何介导的生理可塑性。其次，将评估基因表达和激素水平，以检验社交线索被触角检测到，整合到大脑中，然后通过特定的激素途径在组织中交流的假设。这项工作将使研究员发展Euglossa困境作为社会进化的模型，并涉及分子技术的本科生和研究生的培训。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为值得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的支持。

项目成果

Function of environment-derived male perfumes in orchid bees

环境来源的雄性香水对兰花蜜蜂的作用

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.03.060
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Current Biology
• 影响因子: 9.2
• 作者: Henske, Jonas;Saleh, Nicholas W.;Chouvenc, Thomas;Ramírez, Santiago R.;Eltz, Thomas
• 通讯作者: Eltz, Thomas

Experimental disruption of social structure reveals totipotency in the orchid bee, Euglossa dilemma

• DOI: 10.1111/evo.14513
• 发表时间: 2022-01
• 期刊: bioRxiv
• 作者: N. Saleh;Jonas Henske;S. Ramírez