Wasp gene expression supports an evolutionary link between maternal behavior and eusociality.
The presence of workers that forgo reproduction and care for their siblings is a defining feature of eusociality and a major challenge for evolutionary theory. It has been proposed that worker behavior evolved from maternal care behavior. We explored this idea by studying gene expression in the primitively eusocial wasp Polistes metricus. Because little genomic information existed for this species, we used 454 sequencing to generate 391,157 brain complementary DNA reads, resulting in robust hits to 3017 genes from the honey bee genome, from which we identified and assayed orthologs of 32 honey bee behaviorally related genes. Wasp brain gene expression in workers was more similar to that in foundresses, which show maternal care, than to that in queens and gynes, which do not. Insulin-related genes were among the differentially regulated genes, suggesting that the evolution of eusociality involved major nutritional and reproductive pathways.
Toth
Amy L
AL
Department of Entomology and Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. amytoth@uiuc.edu
Varala
Kranthi
K
Newman
Thomas C
TC
Miguez
Fernando E
FE
Hutchison
Stephen K
SK
Willoughby
David A
DA
Simons
Jan Fredrik
JF
Egholm
Michael
M
Hunt
James H
JH
Hudson
Matthew E
ME
Robinson
Gene E
GE
D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000235:genetics; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017344:Genes, Insect; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D023421:Models, Animal; D012098:Reproduction; D012919:Social Behavior; D014863:Wasps / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology
D019476:Insect Proteins