CAREER: Integrating genetic and ecological drivers of a social phenotype: dynamics of a social polymorphism and supergene

孟德尔在150多年前就发现了豌豆简单性状的遗传基础，如花色和种子形状，但研究人员仍然需要了解基因如何控制复杂性状，如社会行为或交配策略。 这些复杂的性状包括多个组成部分，因此它们不太可能由单个基因塑造。 最近来自昆虫、鸟类、植物和真菌的证据表明，许多不同的复杂性状可能是由称为超基因的共同遗传结构控制的，超基因通过协调行动将两个或多个基因锁定在一起，以便将有益的组合一起传递给后代。 在这项研究中，研究人员将研究控制蚂蚁群体社会组织的超基因的特征。 该项目将特别询问一个古老的超基因如何在一组相关物种中改变形式和功能。 除了扩大目前对复杂特征如何出现和持续的了解外，这项研究还将为蚂蚁替代社会策略的原因和后果提供新的见解。 学生将参与这项研究的各个方面，研究小组将参加外展活动，以提高社区对昆虫学的认识。 本科生将获得当代基因组学技术的实践经验，无论是在课堂上还是作为研究助理。 研究生将汇编现有知识的原因和后果的替代社会战略在所有社会有机体，这将扩大发现的范围从这个项目。社会组织涉及非亲属之间的合作已经多次起源于社会昆虫，但这种转变的近端和最终的驱动力仍然是谜。 拟议的研究将建立在最近发现的一个祖先超基因的基础上，该超基因由大约500个连锁基因组成，构成多个社会多态性蚂蚁物种社会结构的基础。新出现的证据表明，超基因通常控制复杂的性状，从蝴蝶的模仿颜色到鸟类的交配策略，但科学家们才刚刚开始了解这些基因组结构的特征和动态。 这个项目将同时解决两个主要问题：常染色体超基因如何进化和持续存在，以及由非亲属组成的社会如何以及为什么反复进化。 目的1将调查是否替代超基因变异经历的基因内容，基因顺序和蛋白质编码序列的变化，因为他们坚持在物种谱系。 本科研究人员将接受基因组学和生物信息学技术的培训，并将领导对他们自己的福米卡物种进行种内分析。 作为补充，目标2将研究超基因基因型如何影响个体和群体水平的性状。 生物学导论课的学生将为此目的参与数据收集。 最后，目标3将确定社会组织和遗传控制的分布是否沿地理学轴沿着变化。 一个研究生研讨会将通过对社会性昆虫的社会多态性的生态驱动因素进行元分析来扩大这一目标的发现。该项目将为各个层次的学生提供极好的学习机会，并准备扩大对社会进化和复杂性状遗传学的理解。这项工作由综合有机系统部的行为系统群和环境生物学部的进化过程群共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得支持通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。

Mendel discovered the genetic basis of simple traits of peas, such as flower color and seed shape, more than 150 years ago, but researchers still have much to learn about how genes control complex traits such as social behavior or mating strategy. These complex traits include multiple components, so they are unlikely to be shaped by a single gene. Recent evidence from insects, birds, plants, and fungi suggests that many different complex traits may be controlled by common genetic structures called supergenes, which lock together two or more genes with coordinated actions so that beneficial combinations are transmitted together to offspring. In this study, the researchers will investigate characteristics of a supergene that controls social organization in a group of ants. The project will specifically ask about how an ancient supergene changes in form and function in a group of related species. In addition to expanding the current knowledge of how complex traits emerge and persist, this study will also provide new insights into the causes and consequences of alternative social strategies in ants. Students will participate in every aspect of this study, and the research team will participate in outreach events to raise community awareness about entomology. Undergraduate students will gain hands-on experience in contemporary genomics techniques, both in the classroom and as research assistants. Graduate students will compile existing knowledge about the causes and consequences of alternative social strategies across all social organisms, which will broaden the scope of the discoveries from this project.Social organization involving cooperation among non-relatives has originated repeatedly in social insects, yet the proximate and ultimate drivers of this transition remain enigmatic. The proposed research will build upon the recent discovery of an ancestral supergene composed of about 500 linked genes that underlies social structure in multiple socially polymorphic Formica ant species. Emerging evidence suggests that supergenes commonly control complex traits, from mimetic coloration in butterflies to mating strategies in birds, but scientists are only beginning to understand the characteristics and dynamics of these genomic structures. This project will address in parallel two major questions: how do autosomal supergenes evolve and persist, and how and why do societies composed of non-relatives repeatedly evolve. Aim 1 will investigate whether alternative supergene variants undergo changes in gene content, gene order, and protein coding sequence as they persist in speciating lineages. Undergraduate researchers will be trained in genomics and bioinformatics techniques and will lead intraspecific analyses of their own Formica species. In complement, aim 2 will examine how supergene genotype influences individual- and colony-level traits. Students in introductory biology classes will participate in data collection for this aim. Finally, aim 3 will determine whether the distribution of social organization and genetic control varies along biogeographic axes. A graduate student seminar will broaden discoveries from this aim by conducting a meta-analysis of ecological drivers of social polymorphism across social insects. This project will provide excellent learning opportunities for students at all levels and is poised to expand the understanding of social evolution and the genetics of complex traits.This work is being funded jointly by the Behavioral Systems Cluster in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems and the Evolutionary Processes Cluster in the Division of Environmental Biology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.