A comparative approach to the fecundity/longevity trade-off across two origins of eusociality in the bees

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Advanced eusocial species such as honey bees, leafcutter ants or fungus-growing termites seem to have reversed the fecundity/longevity life-history trade-off that is a basic tenet of solitary multicellular organisms; queens in these eusocial species have high reproductive output yet live for one or two orders of magnitude longer than their more-or-less sterile workers. Bees, comprising over 20,000 species, are an ideal group in which to investigate the reversal of the fecundity/longevity trade-off associated with advanced eusociality because they exhibit a wide range of social behaviours, both within and between species. Using a cross-species, comparative approach, we will analyse gene expression (via transcriptomics) of solitary, primitively eusocial and advanced eusocial bee species from two phylogenetic lineages of bee that have independently evolved eusociality from their solitary ancestors: the sweat bees (Halictinae) and the corbiculate bees (Apinae). We will quantify differences in gene expression between young and old females, including workers and queens, of each species using up-to-date bioinformatic tools so as to identify genes that underpin fecundity and longevity. We will complement these next generation sequencing data with quantitative PCR analyses of target genes thought to be involved in fecundity or longevity, and with quantification of key endocrine markers in haemolymph. Facultative social species may be particularly insightful for this approach, and will be incorporated into our selection of species. Our overall aim is to understand the mechanistic details underpinning fecundity and longevity, how and where they are reversed along the sociality spectrum from solitary to eusocial. These studies will complement well other projects within the Research Unit FOR2281 that address reversal of the fecundity/longevity trade-off in ants and termites across different transitions in insect social complexity.