Rapid adaptive change through high recombination rates in eusocial insects

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Structural variants (deletions, insertions, duplications, inversions, translocations) are the largest source of inter-individual genetic variation. They arise frequently, often in a single mutagenic event, for example during non-allelic homologous recombination. Social Hymenoptera have the highest recombination rates of all so far studied animals, suggesting that structural variation might be particularly abundant in populations of these species. Due to small effective population sizes of social insects, structural variants can become fixed rapidly. Previous work on the invasive ant Cardiocondyla obscurior has shown a variety of structural variants between isolated populations (Schrader et al. 2014), likely contributing to the emergence of locally adapted phenotypes such as pesticide resistance and changes in aggressive behavior related to nestmate recognition. By studying populations of C. obscurior in the field and laboratory combining bio assays, linkage mapping, population genomics, and molecular tools, we will explore the role of very high recombination rates and structural genetic variation in rapid adaption of invasive social Hymenoptera.