Project description:Replicate pools of heads from 10 individual Monomorium pharaonis workers, collected in the act of nursing larvae or foraging for food, each from a separate replicate colony
Project description:The emergence of eusociality is one of the major transitions in evolution. There have been several investigations into the reasons for shaping caste differentiation and social behavior of eusocial insects, such as ants and honeybees. However, the molecular mechanisms governing the sociality of these insects remain obscure. In this study, we profiled the transcriptome and chromatin accessibility of brain tissues in all castes: queens, males, gynes and workers in Monomorium pharaonis which is a typical caste-dependent eusocial insect. We created a comprehensive dataset including 16 RNA-seq and 16 ATAC-seq profiles from 4 biological replicates. We also demonstrated strong reproducibility of the datasets and identified specific genes and open chromatin regions in the genome that may be associated with caste differentiation. Overall, our data will be a valuable resource for further study of the mechanisms underlying eusocial insect behavior, particularly the role of the brain in the control of eusociality.
