title: On the Molecular Basis of Division of Labor in Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Workers: RNA-seq Analysis.
abstract: The fire ant Solenopsis invicta Buren is an important invasive pest. Among S. invicta workers behavioral changes depend on age where younger ants are nurses and older ants foragers. To identify potential genes associated with this division of labor, we compared gene expression between foragers and nurses by high-throughput sequencing. In total, we identified 1,618 genes significantly differently expressed between nurses and foragers, of which 542 were upregulated in foragers and 1,076 were upregulated in nurses. Several pathways related to metabolism were significantly enriched, such as lipid storage and fatty acid biosynthesis, which might contribute to the division of labor in S. invicta. Several genes involved in DNA methylation, transcription, and olfactory responses as well as resistance to stress were differentially expressed between nurses and foragers workers. Finally, a comparison between previously published microarray data and our RNA-seq data in S. invicta shows 116 genes overlap, and the GO term myofibril assembly (GO: 0030239) were simultaneously significantly enriched. These results advance knowledge of potentially important genes and molecular pathways associated with worker division of labor in S. invicta. We hope our dataset will provide . candidate target genes to disrupt organization in S. invicta as a control strategy against this invasive pest.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangdong, Guangzhou 510642, China (qiuhualong2008@163.com).
authors.forename: Hua-Long
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science Luoyang Normal University, Henan, Luoyang 471000, China.
authors.forename: Cheng-Yin
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangdong, Guangzhou 510642, China (qiuhualong2008@163.com).
authors.forename: Yu-Rong
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017344:Genes, Insect; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: biological invasions; eusociality; myrmecology; transcriptomics