The ageing bee: how does sociality affect ageing in social animals?

衰老的蜜蜂：社交性如何影响群居动物的衰老？

• 批准号: 2575849
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of East Anglia
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2575849
• 关键词: ageing; bee; how; does; sociality

Explaining patterns of ageing in organisms is essential for both our understanding of the diversity of life histories and our ability to manipulate them in beneficial ways. Yet, despite the overall success of the evolutionary theory of ageing, substantial gaps in our understanding remain. How ageing interacts with sociality is unclear and, specifically, in social animals, it remains unknown whether longevity and ageing depend primarily on properties of the individual or group, at either phenotypic or genetic levels. This project's main aim is to resolve these fundamental questions using experimental and genetic approaches in the bumble bee Bombus terrestris -- a model eusocial organism and a key pollinator. We have found that B. terrestris workers produced early in the colony cycle have significantly greater longevities than later-produced workers. The project's specific objectives will therefore be to discriminate between individual- and group-level hypotheses for this difference using experiments to measure the longevities and gene expression levels of workers as a function of individual and social factors.Working with B. terrestris colonies in the laboratory at UEA, the student will design and perform experiments to separate out individual and social influences on longevity. For example, experiments will test whether young workers transferred from early-stage colonies into late-stage colonies live longer or shorter lives (Objective 1). In similar experiments, the student will use quantitative PCR (qPCR) to determine whether genes in ageing-associated pathways change their expression levels in response to such manipulations (Objective 2). Alongside training opportunities provided by the DTP, the student will receive research training and generic, transferable training within the supervisors' research groups. Research training will provide expertise in bee ecology, evolutionary theory and pollinator biology plus advanced skills in insect husbandry, experimental design, molecular techniques (RNA extraction, qPCR) and data analysis. Generic, transferable training will cover project management, written and oral communication and career development. The student will be encouraged to shape the project's direction as it develops.

解释生物体的衰老模式对于我们理解生命史的多样性以及我们以有益的方式操纵它们的能力都是至关重要的。然而，尽管衰老的进化理论总体上取得了成功，但我们对衰老的理解仍然存在实质性的差距。衰老如何与社会性相互作用尚不清楚，特别是在社会性动物中，仍然不清楚长寿和衰老是否主要取决于个体或群体的特性，无论是表型还是遗传水平。这个项目的主要目的是通过实验和遗传方法来解决这些基本问题，在大黄蜂中，一种典型的社会生物和关键的传粉者。我们发现，在蚁群周期的早期生产的陆地芽孢杆菌的工蜂寿命明显长于后期生产的工蜂。因此，该项目的具体目标将是通过实验来衡量工人的寿命和基因表达水平作为个人和社会因素的功能，区分个人和群体层面的差异假设。该学生将在东英吉利大学的实验室中研究地芽孢杆菌菌落，设计并进行实验，以分离出个人和社会对寿命的影响。例如，实验将测试从早期蜂群转移到后期蜂群的年轻工蜂的寿命是更长还是更短（目标1）。在类似的实验中，学生将使用定量PCR （qPCR）来确定衰老相关途径中的基因是否会因这些操作而改变其表达水平（目标2）。除了DTP提供的培训机会外，学生还将在主管的研究小组中接受研究培训和一般的可转移培训。研究培训将提供蜜蜂生态学、进化理论和传粉者生物学方面的专业知识，以及昆虫饲养、实验设计、分子技术（RNA提取、qPCR）和数据分析方面的高级技能。一般的，可转移的培训将包括项目管理，书面和口头沟通以及职业发展。随着项目的发展，学生将被鼓励塑造项目的方向。