The evolutionary pathway and molecular mechanisms underpinning the evolution of social complexity in termites.

在群居昆虫中，向超级有机体的主要进化转变已经发生过无数次。向超有机体的过渡被认为是不可逆转的；决定一个物种是否已经过渡的特征包括全能性的丧失和一生中繁殖或帮助他人的承诺。白蚁超有机体的最终进化解释尚不清楚；此外，进化变化产生的近似机制甚至没有得到很好的研究。在这里，我们试图研究控制白蚁家族的全能性和承诺的基因。为了做到这一点，我们将收集个体，这些个体是全能的，并致力于终身不育，跨越多个白蚁家族的多个物种。然后，我们将对每个物种的转录组进行测序，以确定与全能性和承诺相关的常见转录模式。然后将进行RT-qPCR和RNAi实验来验证这些基因的功能：基因敲低预计将允许先前承诺的表型是可塑的，或者先前的可塑表型是不灵活的。通过阐明某些白蚁家族中全能工蚁的存在是一种衍生状态还是原始状态，我们可以得出白蚁是否符合惠勒的假设，即超有机体是不可逆的。

Major evolutionary transitions to superorganismality have occurred numerous times within social insects. The transition to superorganismality is thought to be irreversible; traits that determine whether a species has transitioned include the loss of totipotency and commitment to a life-time of either reproduction or helping. The ultimate evolutionary explanations for termite superorganismality aren't well understood; furthermore, the proximate mechanisms by which the evolutionary changes arise are even less well studied. Here, we seek to investigate the genes that control totipotency and commitment across families of termites. To do this we will collect individuals, which are totipotent and committed to lifetime sterility, across multiple species spanning multiple families of termites. We will then sequence the transcriptomes for each species to identify common patterns of transcription associated with totipotency and commitment. RT-qPCR and RNAi experiments will then be conducted to validate the functions of these genes: gene knockdowns are expected to either allow previously committed phenotypes to be plastic, or previously plastic phenotypes to be inflexible. By elucidating whether the presence of totipotent workers within some families of termites is a derived or primitive state, we can conclude whether termites conform to Wheeler's assumption that superorganismality is irreversible.