CAREER: Developing Novel Social Systems-level Approaches with a New Ant Model to Study the Genetic, Behavioral, and Evolutionary Basis of Social Traits

对不同生物体的研究日益表明，个体的行为、生理、发育和寿命强烈依赖于社会环境。然而，传统的遗传分析没有充分考虑社会相互作用如何影响性状的遗传基础。此外，所有发展良好的模型系统都是孤立的，还没有开发出适合于遗传分析的高度社会系统。该项目将开发新的基因组方法和一个新的高度社会化的蚂蚁系统，以研究社会特征的遗传和行为基础以及进化。由于社会互动无处不在，而且人类具有高度的社会性，行为、健康和寿命强烈依赖于社会环境，该项目预计将产生广泛的影响。该项目的研究部分与针对高中、本科生、博士和博士后水平的几个教育部分紧密结合，以增加遗传学、基因组学、行为和进化领域的教育和培训。社会互动意味着受社会影响的特征是多个相互作用的个体的基因组的特性。该项目开发了一种新的社会系统级别的方法，建立在相互作用的表型框架基础上，以阐明潜在的遗传和行为机制，以表达和进化社会影响的特征。该项目结合了：1)。与社会特征表达相关的转录和进化模式的全基因组研究；2)。基因作图研究，以确定潜在的社会特征表达的多态和有助于社会特征变异和进化的基因座的子集；以及3)。基因水平的研究，以验证已确定的候选基因在蚂蚁单胞菌和遗传模型黑腹果蝇中的表型效应。该项目开发了一种新的蚂蚁模型系统，用于研究社会特征的遗传基础和进化。研究特征，生殖种姓是一个研究得很好的受社会影响的特征，也是生殖利他主义的原型。由于研究物种中的工蚁是必然不育的，他们对种姓产生社会影响的基因必须通过亲属选择来进化。因此，这项研究将提供由亲缘选择形成的一组社会作用基因的全基因组识别，并将识别亲缘选择的进化遗传特征。该项目产生的所有数据将通过在线数据库公开提供。

Research in diverse organisms increasingly demonstrates that the behavior, physiology, development, and lifespan of individuals strongly depend on the social environment. However, conventional genetic analyses do not adequately consider how social interactions affect the genetic basis of traits. Furthermore, all well-developed model systems are solitary and no highly social system amenable to genetic analysis has been developed. This project will develop novel genomic approaches and a new highly social ant system to study the genetic and behavioral basis, and evolution of social traits. Because social interactions are ubiquitous, and humans are highly social, with behavior, health, and lifespan strongly dependent on the social environment, the project is expected to have widespread implications. The research components of the project are tightly integrated with several educational components targeted at the high school, undergraduate, PhD, and postdoctoral levels to increase education and training in the areas of genetics, genomics, behavior, and evolution. Social interactions mean that socially-influenced traits are properties of the genomes of multiple interacting individuals. The project develops a novel social systems-level approach, building on the interacting phenotypes framework, to elucidate the genetic and behavioral mechanisms underlying the expression and evolution of socially-influenced traits. The project combines: 1). genome-wide studies of transcriptional and evolutionary patterns associated with social trait expression; 2). gene mapping studies to identify the subset of loci underlying social trait expression that are polymorphic and contribute to social trait variation and evolution; and 3). gene-level studies to verify the phenotypic effects of identified candidate genes in the ant Monomorium pharaonis and in the genetic model Drosophila melanogaster. The project develops M. pharaonis as a new ant model system for studying the genetic basis and evolution of social traits. The study trait, reproductive caste is a well-studied socially-influenced trait that is also the archetypal example of reproductive altruism. Because workers in the study species are obligately sterile, their genes with social effects on caste must evolve via kin selection. Thus, this research will provide genome-wide identification of sets of socially-acting genes shaped by kin selection and will identify evolutionary genetic signatures of kin selection. All data generated by the project will be made publicly available through online databases.