Comparative transcriptomics of social insect queen pheromones

Holman, Luke; Helanterä, Heikki; Trontti, Kalevi; Mikheyev, Alexander S.

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09567-2

Cited by 36 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Another gene promoting HPTM, Kat8 , was also found differentially expressed in honey bees exposed to QMP versus those not exposed. Kat8 was previously identified as being differentially spliced in the transcriptome of Lasius flavus ants treated with pheromones of their own queen (Holman et al . 2019), suggesting that (de)acetylation processes may be regulated by queen pheromones not only in the honey bee but also in other eusocial hymenopterans.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Queen pheromone modulates the expression of epigenetic modifier genes in the brain of honeybee workers

Junior

Ronai²,

Hartfelder³

et al. 2020

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Pheromones are used by many insects to mediate social interactions. In the highly eusocial honeybee (Apis mellifera) queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) is involved in the regulation of reproduction and behaviour of workers. The molecular mechanisms by which QMP acts are largely unknown. Here we investigate how genes responsible for epigenetic modifications to DNA, RNA and histones respond to the presence of QMP. We show that several of these genes are upregulated in the honeybee brain when workers are exposed to QMP. This provides a plausible mechanism by which pheromone signalling may influence gene expression in the brain of honeybee workers. We propose that pheromonal communication systems, such as those used by social insects, evolved to respond to environmental signals by making use of existing epigenomic machineries.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2003; Fussnecker et al . 2011; Holman et al . 2019) can be attributed to the differences in methodological strategies adopted in these studies, including QMP dosage, age of workers at the time of sampling and the tissues analysed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Queen pheromone modulates the expression of epigenetic modifier genes in the brain of honeybee workers

Junior

Ronai²,

Hartfelder³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Beyond the literal expression trend, we still found a significant number of genes commonly differentially expressed between nurses and foragers of B. terrestris and T. angustula . Interestingly, some of these common genes were also shown to be responsive to queen pherormone 33 . Genes like cytochrome p450, fatty acyl-CoA , mitochondrial and histone related were found to be sensitive to queen pheromone in ants and bees 33 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interestingly, some of these common genes were also shown to be responsive to queen pherormone 33 . Genes like cytochrome p450, fatty acyl-CoA , mitochondrial and histone related were found to be sensitive to queen pheromone in ants and bees 33 . Moreover, biological processes terms enriched in each species set of differentially expressed superTranscripts were highly comparable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The relevance of metabolic pathways to insect sociality has been demonstrated in many studies over the years 45,50–52 and it is most certainly not a species-specific trait. These pathways are affected by queen pheromone in different species and are involved with caste determination of multiple hymenopteran lineages, including bees, ants and wasps 33,53 . Given the central role of energetic and metabolic maintenance in any living animal it is not surprising that changes in these pathways will affect a number of features, including behavioural phenotypes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiple lineages, same molecular basis: task specialization is commonly regulated across all eusocial bee groups

Araujo

Arias

2020

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14A striking feature of advanced insect societies is the existence of workers that forgo 15 reproduction. Two broad types of workers exist in eusocial bees: nurses which care 16 for their young siblings and the queen, and foragers who guard the nest and forage for 17 food. Comparisons between this two worker subcastes have been performed in 18 honeybees, but data from other bees are scarce. To understand whether similar 19 molecular mechanisms are involved in nurse-forager differences across distinct 20 species, we compared gene expression and DNA methylation profiles between nurses 21 and foragers of the buff-tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris and of the stingless bee 22Tetragonisca angustula. These datasets were then discussed comparatively to 23 previous findings on honeybees. Our analyses revealed that although the expression 24 pattern of genes is often species-specific, many of the biological processes and 25 molecular pathways involved are common. Moreover, DNA methylation and gene 26 expression correlation were dependent on the nucleotide context. 27 subcastes evolved it is necessary to differentiate such more recent changes -that 53 could be species-specific -from those shared across species, and thus likely ancestral. 54The highly eusocial stingless bees have age-based division of labour 18 , similarly to 55 that of honeybees despite their most common ancestor being 50 to 80 million years 56 ago 19,20 . To date, no global expression or epigenetic studies have been performed in 57 stingless bees to understand worker task specialization. Similarly, while primitively 58 eusocial bumblebees are largely studied ecological biological models and important 59 wild and managed pollinators, we know comparatively little about the molecular 60 underpinnings of differences between its worker subcastes. Indeed, studies have been 61 restricted to few genes, leaving many open questions [21][22][23] . A major limiting element 62 for these studies is that this species display a somewhat fluctuating division of labour 63 with indistinctive separation between subcastes 10,21,23 . 64We aim to fill in this knowledge gap through the analyses of the global gene 65 expression differences between nurses and foragers, and the characterization of nurses 66 DNA methylation profile in two eusocial bee species, the primitively eusocial buff-67 tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, and the highly eusocial stingless bee, 68Tetragonisca angustula. Combined, these two bee species and the honeybee represent 69 the three evolutionary branches of eusocial corbiculates sharing a common social 70 origin 24 . Hence, in addition to using the generated datasets to uncover unique and 71 more recent molecular traits linked to task division in B. terrestris and T. angustula, 72 we also verified whether common genes and pathways could be involved in task 73 specialization across all the eusocial bee groups. 74 75Results 76 task-dependent foraging gene expression in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Arch. Insect

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