Individual life history adaptation in the social context of the honey bee colony

蜜蜂生活在高度整合的群体中，在进化上是成功的，在许多生态系统中都是相关的。它们复杂的社会组织深刻地影响着个体行为和生活史的进化。在这种背景下，大多数研究都集中在社会性昆虫的特质上，如种姓和劳动分工。相比之下，人们对更一般的生活史变量的社会进化知之甚少，比如个体体型、卵子大小和寿命。我计划研究这3个变量，以填补我们对生命史和社会进化的理解中的这个关键空白。我对这些复杂表型的机制和后果的研究有助于我全面了解蜜蜂生活史进化的长期目标。在未来的5年里，我将与我的HQP一起努力实现以下3个短期目标：工蜂体型变化的研究：体型是生命的一个基本变量，我计划在不同工蜂体型的实验诱导和自然进化的发育机制之间进行转录组学比较。我们还将探讨实验工蚁大小变化如何影响个体行为和生活史，以及这些个体后果如何改变群体表现。2. 了解蜜蜂卵大小变化的原因和后果：基于我们的发现，蜂王根据蜂群的大小积极调节卵的大小，我计划澄清这种塑料策略的自然背景，并研究如何感知蜂群的大小。此外，我们将研究鸡蛋大小的差异是否与供应的质量差异有关，并确定鸡蛋大小变化对后代发育和生存的影响。3. 解剖蜜蜂繁殖和长寿之间的积极关系：为了进一步了解蜜蜂繁殖和长寿之间的特殊关系，我建议对生殖激活和氧化应激的转录组模式进行组织特异性分析，以及氧化损伤的测量。此外，我们将测试单个候选基因敲低对寿命、抗逆性和转录组模式的影响。拟议的研究将阐明个人生活史在社会背景下是如何演变的。关于决定体型、卵子大小和寿命的比较数据将有助于我们对生物体如何繁殖、生长和衰老的总体理解。了解蜜蜂的基本生物学也很有影响，因为它们是重要的科学模型和传粉者。我们的研究为应用研究奠定了基础，以提高养蜂、农业和粮食安全的可持续性。这项研究转化为许多可转移的技能，我明确的EDI努力也使我的项目对培养成功的、多样化的未来一代科学家和公民具有重要意义。

Honey bees live in highly integrated colonies, are evolutionarily successful, and relevant in many ecosystems. Their complex social organization profoundly impacts the evolution of individual behaviour and life history. In this context, most studies have focused on the idiosyncrasies of social insects, such as castes and division of labour. In contrast, little is known about the social evolution of more general life history variables, such as individual body size, egg size, and lifespan. I plan to investigate these 3 variables to fill this critical gap in our understanding of life history and social evolution. My studies of the mechanisms and consequences of these complex phenotypes contribute to my long-term goal of gaining a comprehensive understanding of honey bee life history evolution. Over the next 5 years, I will work together with my HQP on the following 3 short-term objectives: 1. Investigation of body size variation in worker honey bees: Body size is a fundamental variable of life and I plan transcriptomic comparisons between experimentally induced and naturally evolved developmental mechanisms of different worker sizes. We will also explore how experimental worker size variation impacts individual behaviour and life history and how these individual consequences change colony performance. 2. Understand causes and consequences of egg size variation in honey bees: Based on our discovery that queens actively regulate the size of their eggs in response to colony size, I plan to clarify the natural context of this plastic strategy and study how colony size is perceived. Furthermore, we will investigate whether egg size differences are associated with qualitative differences in provisioning and identify the consequences of egg size variation for offspring development and survival. 3. Dissecting the positive relation between reproduction and longevity in honey bees: To further our understanding of the exceptional relation between reproduction and longevity in honey bees, I propose tissue-specific analyses of transcriptome patterns of reproductive activation and oxidative stress, as well as measures of oxidative damage. Additionally, we will test the effect of single candidate gene knockdowns on lifespan, stress resistance, and transcriptome patterns. The proposed studies will clarify how individual life histories evolve in a social context. Comparative data on the determination of body size, egg size, and longevity will help our general understanding of how organisms reproduce, grow, and age. Understanding the basic biology of honey bees is also impactful because they are important scientific models and pollinators. Our studies are a foundation for applied research to improve the sustainability of beekeeping, agriculture, and food security. This research translates into many transferrable skills and my explicit EDI efforts also make my program significant for training of a successful, diverse generation of future scientists and citizens.