Regulation of Caste Formation in a Polyembryonic Wasp

职务名称：多胚黄蜂种姓形成的调节PI：Michael Strand，机构：格鲁吉亚大学研究基金会。社会动物的特征是种姓的发展，其中一些群体成员繁殖，而另一些则充当利他主义的助手。 大多数社会性物种是昆虫，如蚂蚁、蜜蜂和白蚁。 种姓制度也在蚜虫、蓟马和多胚黄蜂的选定群体中进化。 控制种姓形成的条件开关通常涉及环境刺激，这些刺激作用于调节个体发展的过程。 与其他社会物种不同，多胚蜂的胚胎克隆发育，产生大量遗传上相同的后代和两个形态上不同的种姓。 克隆中的所有胚胎都存在于同一个环境中，即宿主，但发育成生殖幼虫，成熟为成年黄蜂，或者发育成具有防御功能的士兵幼虫。以前进行的背景研究表明，种姓决定多胚胡蜂Copidosoma floridanum涉及生殖细胞的遗传。 继承生殖细胞的胚胎形成生殖幼虫，而不形成士兵的胚胎。 这项研究的目的是了解生殖细胞的存在或缺乏如何导致具有相同基因的个体发育如此不同。 分子方法将与实验研究相结合，以确定生殖细胞如何在胚胎中不对称分布，以及生殖细胞的存在如何影响其他基因的表达。 这项研究的结果将提高对种姓形成的调节，生殖细胞在发育中的功能以及多细胞生物体中利他主义的进化的理解。

Title: Regulation of caste formation in a polyembryonic waspPI: Michael Strand, Institution: University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc.Social animals are characterized by the development of castes in which some colony members reproduce while others function as altruistic helpers. Most social species are insects like ants, bees, and termites. Caste systems have also evolved in selected groups of aphids, thrips, and polyembryonic wasps. The conditional switch controlling caste formation usually involves environmental stimuli that act upon processes that regulate development of individuals. Unlike other social species, embryos of polyembryonic wasps develop clonally to produce large numbers of genetically identical offspring and two morphologically distinct castes. All embryos in a clone exist in an identical environment, the host, yet develop into either reproductive larvae that mature into adult wasps or soldier larvae whose function is defense. Previously conducted background studies indicate that caste determination in the polyembryonic wasp Copidosoma floridanum involves the inheritance of germ cells. Embryos that inherit germ cells form reproductive larvae, whereas embryos that do not form soldiers. The objective of this research is to understand how the presence or absence of germ cells causes individuals with the same genes to develop so differently. Molecular methods will be combined with experimental studies to determine how germ cells are asymmetrically distributed among embryos and how the presence of germ cells affects expression of other genes. The results of this study will improve understanding of how caste formation is regulated, the function of germ cells in development, and the evolution of altruism in multicellular organisms.