Differential gene expression between developing queens and workers in the honey bee,Apismellifera

Abstract

Many insects show polyphenisms, or alternative morphologies, which are based on differential gene expression rather than genetic polymorphism. Queens and workers are alternative forms of the adult female honey bee and represent one of the best known examples of insect polyphenism. Hormonal regulation of caste determination in honey bees has been studied in detail, but little is known about the proximate molecular mechanisms underlying this process, or any other such polyphenism. We report the success of a molecular-genetic approach for studying queen-and workerspecific gene expression in the development of the honey bee (Apis mellifera). Numerous genes appear to be differentially expressed between the two castes. Seven differentially expressed loci described here belong to at least five distinctly different evolutionary and functional groups. Two are particularly promising as potential regulators of caste differentiation. One is homologous to a widespread class of proteins that bind lipids and other hydrophobic ligands, including retinoic acid. The second locus shows sequence similarity to a DNAbinding domain in the Ets family of transcription factors. The remaining loci appear to be involved with downstream changes inherent to queen-or worker-specific developmental pathways. Caste determination in honey bees is typically thought of as primarily queen determination; our results make it clear that the process involves specific activation of genes in workers as well as in queens.

The transcriptomic and evolutionary signature of social interactions regulating honey bee caste development

“…The majority of these genes (82%; 779/950) were differentially expressed in the larvae themselves, depending on larval caste trajectory. These larval‐expressed genes are putatively directly involved in the expression of developmental plasticity underlying queen–worker dimorphism, as identified by previous studies of the endogenous molecular basis of queen–worker development (Evans and Wheeler 1999; Barchuk et al. 2007; Foret et al.…”

“…Previous studies of the genetic basis of caste and other social insect traits have mainly used a conventional genetic approach, which seeks direct links between an individual's genotype or patterns of gene expression and its phenotype (Evans and Wheeler 1999; Barchuk et al. 2007; Chandrasekaran et al.…”

“…2011). These studies have led to exciting progress in our understanding of the endogenous molecular genetic, epigenetic, and endocrine basis of alternate larval developmental trajectories in response to socially controlled nutritional inputs (Evans and Wheeler 1999; Barchuk et al. 2007; Kucharski et al.…”

cDNA cloning and characterization of a novel SNX gene differentially expressed in previtellogenic oocytes of gibel carp

“…Several PCR-based techniques for differential gene screening have been established (Wang and Brown 1991;Liang and Pardee, 1992). A suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) technique, owing to its high efficiency and rapidity, has been widely applied to many molecular cloning studies for the identification of disease, development and tissuespecific, or other differentially expressed genes (Diatchenko et al, 1996;Chu and Mckinsey, 1997;Davis and Benzer, 1997;Wong et al, 1997;Evans and Wheeler, 1999;Shimono and Behringer, 1999;Xie et al, 2001Xie et al, , 2003Wen et al, 2001). Using the suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH), we have cloned a lot of differentially transcribed genes between different stages of gibel carp oogenesis .…”

Differential screening and characterization analysis of the egg envelope glycoprotein ZP3 cDNAs between gynogenetic and gonochoristic crucian carp

“…One suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) technique [19], owing to its high efficiency and rapidity, has been widely applied to many molecular cloning studies for the identification of disease, development, and tissuespecific, or other differentially expressed genes [20][21][22][23][24]. Because gyno-carp and gonochoristic color crucian carp (gono-carp), Carassius auratus, are closely related subspecies with different reproductive modes, we have, therefore, initiated a systemic study to use suppression subtractive hybridization technique to identify differential genes in oocytes between them.…”