Genetic basis of social behavior in honey bee and other insect models

蜜蜂和其他昆虫模型社会行为的遗传基础

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-05647
• 负责人: Thompson, Graham
• 金额: $ 3.64万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=740762
• 关键词: Genetic; basis; social; behavior; honey

My research program in insect sociobiology integrates genomics and kin theory to reveal the genetic basis of eusocial behavior. My research rationale is straightforward: for 50 years kin theory has provided a gene-based explanation for eusociality, but by and large we have yet to identify the genes involved. Over the past five years, my students and I have employed advanced molecular and computational approaches to pinpoint the genes that underlie one quintessentially eusocial trait: reproductive altruism in worker honeybees. We have now begun to show how gene action is coordinated at a systems level and our work thus provides a clear bridge between theory and discovery. This progressive molecular analysis - from gene theory to gene screen to gene network - vastly expands the traditional scope of social insect molecular biology and now forms the working theme for my research program. My previous DG has enabled my students and I to exploit a second, more tractable insect model that complements our findings from the honeybee. Drosophila is not eusocial and thus has no sterile caste, but my lab discovered that application of the queen bee pheromone can prompt female flies into a state of worker-like sterility. The potential of a bee-derived chemical cue to induce functional sterility in a non-eusocial insect is remarkable and paves an exciting experimental avenue for my current grant. Our findings suggest that this pseudo-social response from flies is homologous to the stereotypical response from honeybees and mediated by genetic variation at loci involved in pheromone perception and ovary de-activation. In this grant, I make full use of Drosophila mutant and transgenic lines to reveal which loci beyond the identified few actually regulate female 'sterility' in response to ovary-inhibiting signal. This innovative use of a Drosophila model to uncover genetic secrets of the honeybee is catching on in labs around the world and has garnered media interest, too! Finally, my previous DG enabled my lab to compare our bee-related findings against another eusocial insect that is fundamentally different from any Hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps). Termites are related to cockroaches and make up the oldest eusocial taxa yet are rarely used as vehicles for eusocial gene discovery. Our analyses of termite genomes provide a much-needed point of contrast against the better studied haplo-diploid eusocial Hymenoptera and our work thus helps to fill this gap and reveal how common or different are the genes and genomic patterns that accompany and potentially drive eusocial evolution in different insect taxa. Indeed, as the field of sociobiology continues to mature towards a general and integrated theory of social life, my three-model research program is well-positioned to grow and develop along with it - it is ideal for training students in molecular technique and application of kin theory, as well as engages the apicultural and pest control sectors of industry.

我的昆虫社会生物学研究项目整合了基因组学和亲缘关系理论，以揭示社会行为的遗传基础。我的研究理由很简单：50年来，亲属理论为幸福感提供了一种基于基因的解释，但总的来说，我们还没有确定涉及的基因。在过去的五年里，我和我的学生们使用先进的分子和计算方法来确定构成一种典型的社会特征的基因：工蜂的生殖利他主义。我们现在已经开始展示基因活动是如何在系统水平上协调的，因此我们的工作在理论和发现之间提供了一座清晰的桥梁。这种进步的分子分析--从基因理论到基因筛选再到基因网络--极大地扩展了传统的群居昆虫分子生物学的范围，现在形成了我研究计划的工作主题。我之前的DG使我和我的学生能够开发第二个更易处理的昆虫模型，该模型补充了我们在蜜蜂上的发现。果蝇不是优生优育的，因此没有不育的种姓，但我的实验室发现，应用蜂王信息素可以促使雌性果蝇进入工蚁般的不育状态。蜜蜂衍生的化学线索在非社会性昆虫中诱导功能性不育的潜力是显著的，为我目前的拨款铺平了一条令人兴奋的实验道路。我们的发现表明，这种来自苍蝇的伪社会反应与蜜蜂的刻板反应是同源的，并由涉及信息素感知和卵巢失活的基因位点的遗传变异所调节。在这项资助中，我充分利用了果蝇突变株和转基因株系，以揭示在已识别的少数几个基因座之外，哪些基因座实际上调节了雌性‘不育症’，以回应卵巢抑制信号。这种利用果蝇模型揭示蜜蜂基因秘密的创新方法正在世界各地的实验室流行起来，也引起了媒体的兴趣！最后，我之前的DG使我的实验室能够将我们与蜜蜂相关的发现与另一种从根本上不同于任何膜翅目(蜜蜂、蚂蚁、黄蜂)的共生昆虫进行比较。白蚁与蟑螂有亲缘关系，是最古老的社会分类群，但很少被用作发现社会基因的工具。我们对白蚁基因组的分析提供了一个亟需的对比点，与研究得更好的单二倍体共群膜翅目相比，我们的工作因此有助于填补这一空白，并揭示在不同昆虫分类群中伴随并潜在推动共群性进化的基因和基因组模式的共同性或差异性。事实上，随着社会生物学领域朝着社会生活的一般和综合理论不断成熟，我的三个模型研究项目处于有利地位，可以与之一起成长和发展--它是培训学生分子技术和亲缘关系理论应用的理想选择，也是从事养蜂业和工业病虫害防治部门的理想选择。