Transcriptional profiling by array of Solenopsis invicta (fire ant) workers to identify genes and gene pathways responding to the queen presence
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Solenopsis invicta
SUBMITTER: Fabio Manfredini
PROVIDER: E-MTAB-2108 | biostudies-arrayexpress |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress
Similar Datasets
Project description:We used whole-genome fire ant microarrays to examine the molecular basis for division of labor in fire ant workers by comparing foraging and non-foraging workers from monogyne colonies. Fire ant colonies were collected in the field and transported into the lab were they were reared in standard conditions. We created a nesting chamber containing the queen, the brood and workers performing nursing tasks and a foraging area, separated from the nesting chamber and provided with food and water sources. Foraging workers were collected in the foraging area while non-foraging workers were collected in the nesting chamber. Total RNA was isolated from pools of whole workers and processed for microarrays.
2014-01-08 | E-MTAB-2094 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:In many animals living in groups the reproductivestatus of individuals is determined by their social status. In specieswith social hierarchies, the death of dominant individuals typicallyupheaves the social hierarchy and provides an opportunity for subordinateindividuals to improve their social status. Such a phenomenon occursin the monogyne form of the fire ant\emph{, Solenopsis invicta, }wherecolonies typically contain a single wingless reproductive queen, thousandsof workers and hundreds of winged non-reproductive virgin queens.Upon the death of the mother queen, many virgin queens shed theirwings and initiate reproductive development instead of departing ona mating flight. Workers progressively execute almost all of themover the following weeks. The workers base their collective decisionon pheromonal cues associated with the onset of reproductive developmentof the virgin queens which occurs after orphaning. To examine the factors that determine which virgin queens are executed and which survive, we set up artificial competitions between queens from different colonies. Using microarrays, we found that queens from winning colonies showed higher mitochondrial as well as organ development activities 24 hours after orphaning than did queens from colonies that lost the competitions. Furthermore, queens from colonies where queens shed their wings faster after orphaning were more likely to survive competitions. Finally, higher wing shedding speed is linked to higher mitochondrial activity. Eight competitions were initially conducted between queens form pairs of colonies. Six competitions clearly identified one winning colony and one losing colony. We thus have microarray data for six competitions (ie biological replicates), with one winning and one losing colony within each competition. Thus 12 colonies total. For each colony, RNA extracted from five queens was pooled, and hybridized against an unrelated common reference RNA that had been made from a pool of many S. invicta individuals of all castes and developmental stages. Lab work was conducted in blocks (by competition) with randomized order within competition to avoid introducing bias. No technical replication was performed.
2013-12-14 | E-GEOD-26039 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Sibling care is a hallmark of the social insects, but its evolution remains challenging to explain. The hypothesis that sibling care evolved from ancestral maternal care in the primitively eusocial insects has been elaborated to involve heterochronic changes in gene expression. This elaboration leads to the prediction that workers in these species will show patterns of gene expression more similar to foundress queens, who express maternal care behavior, than to established queens engaged solely in reproductive behavior. We tested this idea in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris using a microarray platform with ca. 4,500 genes. Unlike in the wasp Polistes metricus, in which support for the above prediction has been obtained, we found that patterns of brain gene expression in foundress and queen bumblebees were more similar to each other than to workers. However, comparisons of lists of differentially expressed genes derived from this study and gene lists from microarray studies in Polistes and the honeybee Apis mellifera suggest that there is a shared set of genes involved in the regulation of related social behaviors across independent eusocial lineages. Together, these results suggest that the multiple independent evolutions of eusociality in the insects involved a combination of shared and different mechanisms.
2014-06-01 | E-MTAB-2621 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Investigation of gene expression changes in honey bee mushroom bodies related to duration of foraging behavior
2011-07-01 | E-MTAB-482 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:In species with social hierarchies, the death of dominant individuals typically upheaves the social hierarchy and provides an opportunity for subordinate individuals to become reproductives. Such a phenomenon occurs in the monogyne form of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, where colonies typically contain a single wingless reproductive queen, thousands of workers and hundreds of winged non-reproductive virgin queens. Upon the death of the mother queen, many virgin queens shed their wings and initiate reproductive development instead of departing on a mating flight. Workers progressively execute almost all of them over the following weeks. To identify the molecular changes that occur in virgin queens as they perceive the loss of their mother queen and begin to compete for reproductive dominance, we collected virgin queens before the loss of their mother queen, six hours after orphaning and 24 hours after orphaning. Their RNA was extracted and hybridized against microarrays to examine the expression levels of approximately 10,000 genes. We identified 297 genes that were consistently differentially expressed after orphaning. These include genes that are putatively involved in the signaling and onset of reproductive development, as well as genes underlying major physiological changes in the young queens. 3 samples: 0h, 6h, 24; five queens pooled per samples; each replicate loop of 3 samples was taken from an independent colony; 8 biological replicates (colonies) used. Hybridization according to a Dye-balanced loop design (no technical replication)
2010-01-31 | E-GEOD-19721 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Fire ant queens were collected immediately after a nuptial mating flight and split into two groups: paired queens (pleometrosis) and individual queens(haplometrosis). All the queens were provided with a nesting chamber consisting of a glass tube half-filled with water, which was covered by a cotton ball and a layer of dental plaster. Tubes were sealed with a loose cap to provide air flow. Specimens were reared in the dark at 28C, 70% relative humidity under claustral conditions (no food and no water) for 1 month. After the eclosion of the first batch of workers (minims), incipient colonies were provided with water, sugar water and frozen crickets. Glass tubes were set open in pencil boxes coated with Fluon to prevent escape. Queens were subsequently monitored daily until it was possible to identify the social rank of the two cofoundresses in pleometrotic couples.
2013-08-21 | E-MEXP-3886 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Expression profiling of honey bee brains as a function of treatments that accelerate the onset of foraging. Treatment groups included three treatments that accelerate the onset of foraging (methoprene [juvenile hormone analog], manganese, and cGMP) and two treatments that do not accelerate the onset of foraging (cAMP and vehicle control).
2007-04-05 | E-TABM-150 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:This experiment compared gene expression in individual brains of field collected Polistes metricus in four adult behavioral states: solitary foundresses, foraging workers, queens, and pre-overwintering gynes.
2010-03-24 | E-MEXP-2558 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Honeybees are very important eusocial insects and are involved in the pollination of many plants. Queen bees and worker bees develop from the same fertilized eggs, and are thus genetically identical despite their substantial behavioural and physiological differences. The mechanism governing developmental differences between worker and queen bees has always attracted much interest. While there are several reports on mRNA expression related to caste differentiation, no systematic investigation of small RNAs has thus far been carried out. Results: Using deep sequencing we systematically profiled small RNA expression in 4th-6th day worker larvae and queen larvae (the critical stages at which the fates of workers and queens are determined), and found that 38 miRNAs were differentially expressed between worker and queen larvae. In addition, 639 mature miRNA candidates were identified in our work for the first time, of which, 526 were expressed only in workers (318) or queens (208). Conclusion: We present the first profile of honeybee small RNAs and explore the mechanism of caste differentiation between worker and queen bees. Caste-specific expression patterns and large discrepancies in small RNA profiles between worker and queen bees indicate that small RNAs may be related to the differential development of worker and queen bee larvae. Results presented here will make a valuable contribution to understanding the caste switch between worker and queen bees. Three healthy 10-frame colonies of ‘Zhenongda No.1’- a high-yielding royal jelly breed of Apis mellifera ligustica , were maintained at the Huajiachi campus of Zhejiang University. In each colony, the queen laid eggs over a period of 24 hours in one empty frame which was subsequently moved to an egg-free super-chamber. After 66 hours (less than 18 hours after hatching), we transferred 150 larvae into queen cups to rear queens in each colony and put the queen cup frames into their corresponding colonies. 40-60 worker larvae and queen larvae were collected from each colony after 4 days (73~90 h after hatching), 5 days (97~114 h after hatching) and 6 days (121~138 h after hatching). The larval samples were collected into 50 ml tubes, immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80C until being used for RNA extraction. After total RNA was extracted and quantified , relative equal amounts of total RNAs from each of the three sampling days were pooled into respectively worker and queen samples, and the fraction of small RNAs less than 30nt long was retained and sequenced on the Illumina/Solexa high-throughput platform (HTP).
2014-07-28 | E-GEOD-52630 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:As a matter of fact, honeybees are vital for the pollination of more than 80 crops of agricultural interest. However, population decline has become an important global issue causing significant concerns among agricultural experts and the broader public. For this, parasites are known to be the major culprits responsible for the losses of millions of honeybee colonies so far. Among these parasites, Varroa destructor has been identified as a major cause for global losses in Western honeybee (Apis mellifera) colonies. Hygienic behavior (HB), on the other hand, is a collective response by adult honeybees to defend against parasites and diseases that is known to involve in resistance towards Varroosis. Even with the efforts made to elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying HB, it is still not understood. In our study, we have studied the proteomic correlates to HB using a honeybee line (selected for Varroa-specific HB for over a decade in Germany). We sampled individual worker bees from this line that showed HB after closer infrared video observations and compared the proteomes of their mushroom bodies and antennae with those of workers that came from the same set of colonies but didn't show the behaviour. Furthermore, we compared the pupal hemolymph for worker bees of the selected HB line and a control line using state-of-the art techniques of proteomics. We identified a total of 8609 proteins (covered >55% of the honeybee proteome) from these three honeybee tissues. This is the most comprehensive proteomic study of the honeybee HB to date, and the first to focus on individual bees expressing Varroa-specific HB. These results have significantly advanced our knowledge on the biology underlining HB to a new level. The uniquely found functional classes and pathways by the proteins identified in each tissue suggest that hygienic bees have shaped distinct proteome settings to underpin the HB. Moreover, during analysis of pupal hemolymph proteome, the HB-line has adapted a unique strategy to boost an individual and social immunity and drove pupal organogenesis via energy metabolism and protein biosynthesis. Moreover, in the mushroom bodies of different HB phenotypic worker bees, the hygienic bees have enhanced their neuronal sensitivity to promote the execution of HB by activation of synaptic vesicles and calcium channel activities. Moreover, in the antennae of two HB phenotypic worker bees, the hygienic bees have demonstrated strengthening of their sensitivity associated with olfactory senses and signal transmissions, which is important to input a strong signal to the mushroom bodies and initiate HB. In conclusion, our novel findings have significantly extended our understandings of the molecular mechanisms that underline the HB to combat Varroa infestation. Furthermore, we identified a wide array of novel markers that are useful for accelerating marker associated selection of HB to aid in the natural resistance to a parasite blamed for a global decline in honeybee health.
2016-08-09 | PXD004467 | Pride