An annotated cDNA library and microarray for large-scale gene-expression studies in the ant Solenopsis invicta.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Wang J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC1839134 | biostudies-literature | 2007
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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An annotated cDNA library and microarray for large-scale gene-expression studies in the ant Solenopsis invicta.
Wang John J Jemielity Stephanie S Uva Paolo P Wurm Yannick Y Gräff Johannes J Keller Laurent L
Genome biology 20070101 1
Ants display a range of fascinating behaviors, a remarkable level of intra-species phenotypic plasticity and many other interesting characteristics. Here we present a new tool to study the molecular mechanisms underlying these traits: a tentatively annotated expressed sequence tag (EST) resource for the fire ant Solenopsis invicta. From a normalized cDNA library we obtained 21,715 ESTs, which represent 11,864 putatively different transcripts with very diverse molecular functions. All ESTs were u ...[more]
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Project description:Ants have evolved very complex societies and are key ecosystem members. Some ants, such as the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, are also major pests. Here, we present a draft genome of S. invicta, assembled from Roche 454 and Illumina sequencing reads obtained from a focal haploid male and his brothers. We used comparative genomic methods to obtain insight into the unique features of the S. invicta genome. For example, we found that this genome harbors four adjacent copies of vitellogenin. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that an ancestral vitellogenin gene first underwent a duplication that was followed by possibly independent duplications of each of the daughter vitellogenins. The vitellogenin genes have undergone subfunctionalization with queen- and worker-specific expression, possibly reflecting differential selection acting on the queen and worker castes. Additionally, we identified more than 400 putative olfactory receptors of which at least 297 are intact. This represents the largest repertoire reported so far in insects. S. invicta also harbors an expansion of a specific family of lipid-processing genes, two putative orthologs to the transformer/feminizer sex differentiation gene, a functional DNA methylation system, and a single putative telomerase ortholog. EST data indicate that this S. invicta telomerase ortholog has at least four spliceforms that differ in their use of two sets of mutually exclusive exons. Some of these and other unique aspects of the fire ant genome are likely linked to the complex social behavior of this species.
| S-EPMC3078418 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The circadian clock is a core molecular mechanism that allows organisms to anticipate daily environmental changes and adapt the timing of behaviors to maximize efficiency. In social insects, the ability to maintain the appropriate temporal order is thought to improve colony efficiency and fitness. We used the newly sequenced fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) genome to characterize the first ant circadian clock. Our results reveal that the fire ant clock is similar to the clock of the honeybee, a social insect with an independent evolutionary origin of sociality. Gene trees for the eight core clock genes, period, cycle, clock, cryptochrome-m, timeout, vrille, par domain protein 1 & clockwork orange, show ant species grouping closely with honeybees and Nasonia wasps as an outgroup to the social Hymenoptera. Expression patterns for these genes suggest that the ant clock functions similar to the honeybee clock, with period and cry-m mRNA levels increasing during the night and cycle and clockwork orange mRNAs cycling approximately anti-phase to period. Gene models for five of these genes also parallel honeybee models. In particular, the single ant cryptochrome is an ortholog of the mammalian-type (cry-m), rather than Drosophila-like protein (cry-d). Additionally, we find a conserved VPIFAL C-tail region in clockwork orange shared by insects but absent in vertebrates. Overall, our characterization of the ant clock demonstrates that two social insect lineages, ants and bees, share a similar, mammalian-like circadian clock. This study represents the first characterization of clock genes in an ant and is a key step towards understanding socially-regulated plasticity in circadian rhythms by facilitating comparative studies on the organization of circadian clockwork.
| S-EPMC3496728 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We used whole bodies of four different adult fire ant morphs (alate queens, workers, haploid males, and diploid males) from a single polygyne colony to generate single-base resolution DNA methylation maps.
2013-03-27 | GSE39959 | GEO
Project description:Recent genome analyses suggested the absence of a number of neuropeptide genes in ants. One of the apparently missing genes was the capa gene. Capa gene expression in insects is typically associated with the neuroendocrine system of abdominal ganglia; mature CAPA peptides are known to regulate diuresis and visceral muscle contraction. The apparent absence of the capa gene raised questions about possible compensation of these functions. In this study, we re-examined this controversial issue and searched for a potentially unrecognized capa gene in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. We employed a combination of data mining and a traditional PCR-based strategy using degenerate primers designed from conserved amino acid sequences of insect capa genes. Our findings demonstrate that ants possess and express a capa gene. As shown by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, processed products of the S. invicta capa gene include three CAPA periviscerokinins and low amounts of a pyrokinin which does not have the C-terminal WFGPRLa motif typical of CAPA pyrokinins in other insects. The capa gene was found with two alternative transcripts in the CNS. Within the ventral nerve cord, two capa neurons were immunostained in abdominal neuromeres 2-5, respectively, and projected into ventrally located abdominal perisympathetic organs (PSOs), which are the major hormone release sites of abdominal ganglia. The ventral location of these PSOs is a characteristic feature and was also found in another ant, Atta sexdens.
| S-EPMC3981796 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Susceptible individuals who have suffered painful stings caused by red imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta, usually experience physical health effects such as fever, dizziness, generalized urticaria, or other systemic reactions such as anaphylactic shock. Whether S. invicta stings also have negative effects on mental health is not clear. In the present study, the psychological impact of S. invicta stings was evaluated using a questionnaire that included a previously published posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) checklist, the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item (PHQ-9), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, 5th scale (PSQI(5)). A total of 96 valid questionnaires were obtained; 37 participants were placed in the stung group, and 59 participants were placed in the unstung group. Our results showed that symptoms of anxiety, depression and sleep disturbances were not associated with S. invicta stings (for GAD-7 scale, Pearson Chi-Square test, χ2 = 0.152, df = 1, P = 0.697; for the BAI, χ2 = 2.252, df = 1, P = 0.133; for the PHQ-9, χ2 = 0.098, df = 1, P = 0.754; for the PSQI(5), χ2 = 0.536, df = 1, P = 0.453). In total, 2 of 83 individuals stung by S. invicta met the criteria (>50) for PTSD. However, there was no significant difference on PTSD between those stung by S. invicta in the 30-day group and the over 30-day group (χ2 = 0.318, df = 1, P = 0.573). Overall, our data do not show an effect of S. invicta stings on mental health as measured using a range of indicators.
| S-EPMC6016926 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We used whole bodies of four different adult fire ant morphs (alate queens, workers, haploid males, and diploid males) from a single polygyne colony to generate single-base resolution DNA methylation maps. DNA was extracted from whole bodies of individual males, individual queens, and pooled workers. Bisulfite conversion and sequencing was performed by Beijing Genomics Institute (Shenzhen, China). Unmethylated enterobacteria phage lambda DNA (GenBank accession: J02459.1) was added to each genomic DNA sample as a control for bisulfite conversion efficiency.
2013-03-27 | E-GEOD-39959 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Metagenomics and next generation sequencing were employed to discover new virus natural enemies of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren in its native range (i.e., Formosa, Argentina) with the ultimate goal of testing and releasing new viral pathogens into U.S. S. invicta populations to provide natural, sustainable control of this ant. RNA was purified from worker ants from 182 S. invicta colonies, which was pooled into 4 groups according to location. A library was created from each group and sequenced using Illumina Miseq technology. After a series of winnowing methods to remove S. invicta genes, known S. invicta virus genes, and all other non-virus gene sequences, 61,944 unique singletons were identified with virus identity. These were assembled de novo yielding 171 contiguous sequences with significant identity to non-plant virus genes. Fifteen contiguous sequences exhibited very high expression rates and were detected in all four gene libraries. One contig (Contig_29) exhibited the highest expression level overall and across all four gene libraries. Random amplification of cDNA ends analyses expanded this contiguous sequence yielding a complete virus genome, which we have provisionally named Solenopsis invicta virus 5 (SINV-5). SINV-5 is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus with genome characteristics consistent with insect-infecting viruses from the family Dicistroviridae. Moreover, the replicative genome strand of SINV-5 was detected in worker ants indicating that S. invicta serves as host for the virus. Many additional sequences were identified that are likely of viral origin. These sequences await further investigation to determine their origins and relationship with S. invicta. This study expands knowledge of the RNA virome diversity found within S. invicta populations.
| S-EPMC5821328 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) is one of the deadliest invasive ant species that threatens the world by disrupting biodiversity, important functions within a natural ecosystem, and community structure. They are responsible for huge economic losses in the infested countries every year. Synthetic insecticides, especially indoxacarb, have been broadly used to control S. invicta for many years. However, the biochemical response of S. invicta to indoxacarb remains largely undiscovered. Here, we used the sublethal doses of indoxacarb on the S. invicta collected from the eight different cities of Southern China. The alteration in the transcriptome profile of S. invicta following sublethal dosages of indoxacarb was characterized using high-throughput RNA-seq technology. We created 2 libraries, with 50.93 million and 47.44 million clean reads for indoxacarb treatment and control, respectively. A total of 2018 unigenes were regulated after insecticide treatment. Results indicated that a total of 158 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the indoxacarb-treated group, of which 100 were significantly upregulated and 58 were downregulated, mostly belonging to the detoxification enzymes, such as AChE, CarE, and GSTs. Furthermore, results showed that most of these DEGs were found in several KEGG pathways, including steroid biosynthesis, other drug metabolizing enzymes, glycerolipid metabolism, chemical carcinogenesis, drug-metabolizing cytochrome P450, glutathione metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, and metabolism of xenobiotics. Together, these findings indicated that indoxacarb causes significant alteration in the transcriptome profile and signaling pathways of S. invicta, providing a foundation for further molecular inquiry.
| S-EPMC8839056 | biostudies-literature
Project description:One of the fundamental questions in biology is how cooperative and altruistic behaviors evolved. The majority of studies seeking to identify the genes regulating these behaviors have been performed in systems where behavioral and physiological differences are relatively fixed, such as in the honey bee. During colony founding in the monogyne (one queen per colony) social form of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, newly-mated queens may start new colonies either individually (haplometrosis) or in groups (pleometrosis). However, only one queen (the "winner") in pleometrotic associations survives and takes the lead of the young colony while the others (the "losers") are executed. Thus, colony founding in fire ants provides an excellent system in which to examine the genes underpinning cooperative behavior and how the social environment shapes the expression of these genes. We developed a new whole genome microarray platform for S. invicta to characterize the gene expression patterns associated with colony founding behavior. First, we compared haplometrotic queens, pleometrotic winners and pleometrotic losers. Second, we manipulated pleometrotic couples in order to switch or maintain the social ranks of the two cofoundresses. Haplometrotic and pleometrotic queens differed in the expression of genes involved in stress response, aging, immunity, reproduction and lipid biosynthesis. Smaller sets of genes were differentially expressed between winners and losers. In the second experiment, switching social rank had a much greater impact on gene expression patterns than the initial/final rank. Expression differences for several candidate genes involved in key biological processes were confirmed using qRT-PCR. Our findings indicate that, in S. invicta, social environment plays a major role in the determination of the patterns of gene expression, while the queen's physiological state is secondary. These results highlight the powerful influence of social environment on regulation of the genomic state, physiology and ultimately, social behavior of animals.
| S-EPMC3738511 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe Sb supergene in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta determines the form of colony social organization, with colonies whose inhabitants bear the element containing multiple reproductive queens and colonies lacking it containing only a single queen. Several features of this supergene - including suppressed recombination, presence of deleterious mutations, association with a large centromere, and "green-beard" behavior - suggest that it may be a selfish genetic element that engages in transmission ratio distortion (TRD), defined as significant departures in progeny allele frequencies from Mendelian inheritance ratios. We tested this possibility by surveying segregation ratios in embryo progenies of 101 queens of the "polygyne" social form (3512 embryos) using three supergene-linked markers and twelve markers outside the supergene.ResultsSignificant departures from Mendelian ratios were observed at the supergene loci in 3-5 times more progenies than expected in the absence of TRD and than found, on average, among non-supergene loci. Also, supergene loci displayed the greatest mean deviations from Mendelian ratios among all study loci, although these typically were modest. A surprising feature of the observed inter-progeny variation in TRD was that significant deviations involved not only excesses of supergene alleles but also similarly frequent excesses of the alternate alleles on the homologous chromosome. As expected given the common occurrence of such "drive reversal" in this system, alleles associated with the supergene gain no consistent transmission advantage over their alternate alleles at the population level. Finally, we observed low levels of recombination and incomplete gametic disequilibrium across the supergene, including between adjacent markers within a single inversion.ConclusionsOur data confirm the prediction that the Sb supergene is a selfish genetic element capable of biasing its own transmission during reproduction, yet counterselection for suppressor loci evidently has produced an evolutionary stalemate in TRD between the variant homologous haplotypes on the "social chromosome". Evidence implicates prezygotic segregation distortion as responsible for the TRD we document, with "true" meiotic drive the most likely mechanism. Low levels of recombination and incomplete gametic disequilibrium across the supergene suggest that selection does not preserve a single uniform supergene haplotype responsible for inducing polygyny.
| S-EPMC6223060 | biostudies-literature