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

我的研究方向是昆虫社会生物学，将基因组学和亲缘理论结合起来，揭示社会行为的遗传基础。我的研究理由很简单：50年来，亲缘理论为社会性提供了一种基于基因的解释，但总的来说，我们还没有确定相关的基因。在过去的五年里，我和我的学生们采用了先进的分子和计算方法来精确定位一个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作用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——极大地扩展了社会昆虫分子生物学的传统范围，现在形成了我研究计划的工作主题。我之前的DG使我和我的学生们能够利用第二种更容易处理的昆虫模型来补充我们在蜜蜂身上的发现。果蝇不是群居动物，因此没有不育等级，但我的实验室发现，使用蜂王信息素可以促使雌性果蝇进入一种类似工蜂的不育状态。蜜蜂衍生的化学线索在非群居昆虫中诱导功能性不育的潜力是非凡的，为我目前的资助铺平了一条令人兴奋的实验道路。我们的研究结果表明，苍蝇的这种伪社会反应与蜜蜂的刻板反应是同源的，并且是由信息素感知和卵巢失活相关位点的遗传变异介导的。在这项资助中，我充分利用果蝇突变体和转基因系来揭示除了已确定的少数位点之外，哪些位点在响应卵巢抑制信号时实际上调节了雌性“不育”。这种利用果蝇模型来揭示蜜蜂遗传秘密的创新方法正在世界各地的实验室中流行起来，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与任何膜翅目昆虫（蜜蜂、蚂蚁、黄蜂）根本不同的真社会昆虫进行比较。白蚁与蟑螂有亲缘关系，是最古老的真社会类群，但很少被用作发现真社会基因的载体。我们对白蚁基因组的分析提供了一个急需的对比点，以更好地研究单倍体-二倍体的真社会膜翅目昆虫，因此我们的工作有助于填补这一空白，揭示伴随并潜在地推动不同昆虫类群的真社会进化的基因和基因组模式是多么共同或不同。事实上，随着社会生物学领域不断向社会生活的综合综合理论发展，我的三模式研究项目也将随之成长和发展——它非常适合培养学生的分子技术和亲缘理论的应用，也适合从事养蜂和害虫防治行业。

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.