Sphingolipids, Transcription Factors, and Conserved Toolkit Genes: Developmental Plasticity in the Ant Cardiocondyla obscurior.
Developmental plasticity allows for the remarkable morphological specialization of individuals into castes in eusocial species of Hymenoptera. Developmental trajectories that lead to alternative caste fates are typically determined by specific environmental stimuli that induce larvae to express and maintain distinct gene expression patterns. Although most eusocial species express two castes, queens and workers, the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior expresses diphenic females and males; this provides a unique system with four discrete phenotypes to study the genomic basis of developmental plasticity in ants. We sequenced and analyzed the transcriptomes of 28 individual C. obscurior larvae of known developmental trajectory, providing the first in-depth analysis of gene expression in eusocial insect larvae. Clustering and transcription factor binding site analyses revealed that different transcription factors and functionally distinct sets of genes are recruited during larval development to induce the four alternative trajectories. In particular, we found complex patterns of gene regulation pertaining to sphingolipid metabolism, a conserved molecular pathway involved in development, obesity, and aging.
Department for Zoology/Evolutionary Biology, Institut für Zoologie, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany lukas.schrader@ur.de.
Lukas
L
Schrader
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania.
Daniel F
DF
Simola
Department for Zoology/Evolutionary Biology, Institut für Zoologie, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
Jürgen
J
Heinze
Department for Zoology/Evolutionary Biology, Institut für Zoologie, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
Jan
J
Oettler
D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000235:genetics*; D000066670:Cell Plasticity; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017344:Genes, Insect; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D005810:Multigene Family; D010641:Phenotype; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D013107:Sphingolipids / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D059467:Transcriptome
D013107:Sphingolipids; D014157:Transcription Factors
Cardiocondyla obscurior; RNAseq; caste determination; developmental plasticity; sphingolipid; transcription factor binding site