The influence of sociality, caste, and size on behavior in a facultatively eusocial bee

Smith, Adam R.; Simons, Meagan; Bazarko, V.; Seid, Marc A.

doi:10.1007/s00040-018-00679-4

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Nest-founding females actively adjust the quality and quantity of pollen and nectar provided to their developing daughters (76), and this yields ecologically relevant physiological variation among adults that is reflective of differences between queens and workers (77). Additionally, the presence of queens in the nest suppresses reproductive maturation in her worker daughters (78), likely in part through aggressive behavioral interactions (79)(80)(81)(82)(83). Our present results also add to the evidence for phenotypic accommodation by revealing cryptic genetic differentiation among social and solitary females against an otherwise undifferentiated genomic background.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental plasticity shapes social traits and selection in a facultatively eusocial bee

Kapheim

Jones

Pan

et al. 2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Developmental plasticity generates phenotypic variation, but how it contributes to evolutionary change is unclear. Phenotypes of individuals in caste-based (eusocial) societies are particularly sensitive to developmental processes, and the evolutionary origins of eusociality may be rooted in developmental plasticity of ancestral forms. We used an integrative genomics approach to evaluate the relationships among developmental plasticity, molecular evolution, and social behavior in a bee species (Megalopta genalis) that expresses flexible sociality, and thus provides a window into the factors that may have been important at the evolutionary origins of eusociality. We find that differences in social behavior are derived from genes that also regulate sex differentiation and metamorphosis. Positive selection on social traits is influenced by the function of these genes in development. We further identify evidence that social polyphenisms may become encoded in the genome via genetic changes in regulatory regions, specifically in transcription factor binding sites. Taken together, our results provide evidence that developmental plasticity provides the substrate for evolutionary novelty and shapes the selective landscape for molecular evolution in a major evolutionary innovation: Eusociality.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental plasticity shapes social traits and selection in a facultatively eusocial bee

Kapheim

Jones

Pan

et al. 2020

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The phylogenetic tree of insulin and hexamerin gene families clearly showed that solitary bees (digger bees and red mason bees) were an early branch from the root (small carpenter bees), followed by bumble bees ( Figure 4 ). The four honeybee species were clustered together, indicating that the a distinctive gene selection of sociality [ 62 , 63 , 64 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Signatures of Positive Selection in the Genome of Apis mellifera carnica: A Subspecies of European Honeybees

Huang

Zhu

Fouks

et al. 2022

Life

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The technology of long reads substantially improved the contingency of the genome assembly, particularly resolving contiguity of the repetitive regions. By integrating the interactive fragment using Hi-C, and the HiFi technique, a solid genome of the honeybee Apis mellifera carnica was assembled at the chromosomal level. A distinctive pattern of genes involved in social evolution was found by comparing it with social and solitary bees. A positive selection was identified in genes involved with cold tolerance, which likely underlies the adaptation of this European honeybee subspecies in the north hemisphere. The availability of this new high-quality genome will foster further studies and advances on genome variation during subspeciation, honeybee breeding and comparative genomics.

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“…In this issue, Smith et al (2019) analyse the behaviour of pairs of solitary foundresses, queens, and workers of M. genalis, using circle tubes, a simple apparatus in which two bees are forced to interact in a tubular environment not unlike the tunnels of their nests. As predicted, social females, both queens and workers, are more tolerant of unknown conspecifics than solitary females.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Socially polymorphic bees as model organisms for studying the evolution of eusociality

Richards

2019

Insect. Soc.

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The influence of sociality, caste, and size on behavior in a facultatively eusocial bee

Cited by 8 publications

References 39 publications

Developmental plasticity shapes social traits and selection in a facultatively eusocial bee

Developmental plasticity shapes social traits and selection in a facultatively eusocial bee

Signatures of Positive Selection in the Genome of Apis mellifera carnica: A Subspecies of European Honeybees

Socially polymorphic bees as model organisms for studying the evolution of eusociality

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