title: Transcriptomes of parents identify parenting strategies and sexual conflict in a subsocial beetle.
abstract: Parenting in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides is complex and, unusually, the sex and number of parents that can be present is flexible. Such flexibility is expected to involve specialized behaviour by the two sexes under biparental conditions. Here, we show that offspring fare equally well regardless of the sex or number of parents present. Comparing transcriptomes, we find a largely overlapping set of differentially expressed genes in both uniparental and biparental females and in uniparental males including vitellogenin, associated with reproduction, and takeout, influencing sex-specific mating and feeding behaviour. Gene expression in biparental males is similar to that in non-caring states. Thus, being 'biparental' in N. vespilloides describes the family social organization rather than the number of directly parenting individuals. There was no specialization; instead, in biparental families, direct male parental care appears to be limited with female behaviour unchanged. This should lead to strong sexual conflict.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TH, UK.|Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä 40014, Finland.
authors.forename: Darren J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9EZ, UK.|Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK.
authors.forename: Craig A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Walling
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9EZ, UK.
authors.forename: Clare E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Stamper
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9EZ, UK.|Division of Evolution, Ecology and Genetics, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: Megan L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Head
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA.
authors.forename: Eileen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Roy-Zokan
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: McKinney
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TH, UK.
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Ritchie
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA.|Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9EZ, UK.
authors.forename: Allen J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1498-3322
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Moore
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D059467:Transcriptome