Caste-specific gene expression in ants
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
PROVIDER: PRJNA327082 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
Dataset's files
| Action | DRS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SRR3726130.fastq.gz | Fastqsanger.gz | |||
| SRR3726140.fastq.gz | Fastqsanger.gz | |||
| SRR3726150.fastq.gz | Fastqsanger.gz | |||
| SRR3726160.fastq.gz | Fastqsanger.gz | |||
| SRR3726170.fastq.gz | Fastqsanger.gz |
Items per page: 5 1 - 5 of 152 |
Similar Datasets
Project description:In most organisms, reproduction is correlated with shorter lifespan. However, the reproductive queen in eusocial insects exhibits much longer lifespan than workers. In Harpegnathos ants, when the queen dies, workers can undergo an adult caste switch to reproductive pseudo-queens (gamergates) exhibiting a 5X prolonged lifespan. To explore the relation between reproduction and longevity, we compared gene expression during caste switching. Insulin expression is increased in the gamergate brain that correlates with increased lipid synthesis and production of vitellogenin in the fat body, both transported to the egg. This results from activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) branch of the insulin signaling pathway. In contrast, the production in the gamergate developing ovary of anti-insulin Imp-L2 leads to decreased signaling of the AKT/FOXO branch in the fat body, consistent with their extended longevity.
2022-07-27 | GSE209617 | GEO
Project description:Gene expression patterns associated with caste and reproductive status in the ant T. longispinosus
| PRJEB4368 | ENA
Project description:Eusocial insects have evolved the capacity to generate adults with distinct morphological, reproductive and behavioural phenotypes from the same genome. Recent studies suggest that RNA editing might enhance the diversity of gene products at the post-transcriptional level, particularly to induce functional changes in the nervous system. Using head samples from the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior, we compare RNA editomes across eusocial castes, identifying ca. 11,000 RNA editing sites in gynes, large workers and small workers. Those editing sites map to 800 genes functionally enriched for neurotransmission, circadian rhythm, temperature response, RNA splicing and carboxylic acid biosynthesis. Most A. echinatior editing sites are species specific, but 8M-bM-^@M-^S23% are conserved across ant subfamilies and likely to have been important for the evolution of eusociality in ants. The level of editing varies for the same site between castes, suggesting that RNA editing might be a general mechanism that shapes caste behaviour in ants. Analysis of genome-wide RNA editing in three different female castes of the the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior.
2014-10-02 | E-GEOD-51576 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Eusocial insects have evolved the capacity to generate adults with distinct morphological, reproductive and behavioural phenotypes from the same genome. Recent studies suggest that RNA editing might enhance the diversity of gene products at the post-transcriptional level, particularly to induce functional changes in the nervous system. Using head samples from the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior, we compare RNA editomes across eusocial castes, identifying ca. 11,000 RNA editing sites in gynes, large workers and small workers. Those editing sites map to 800 genes functionally enriched for neurotransmission, circadian rhythm, temperature response, RNA splicing and carboxylic acid biosynthesis. Most A. echinatior editing sites are species specific, but 8–23% are conserved across ant subfamilies and likely to have been important for the evolution of eusociality in ants. The level of editing varies for the same site between castes, suggesting that RNA editing might be a general mechanism that shapes caste behaviour in ants.
2014-10-02 | GSE51576 | GEO
Project description:Insulin signaling in the long-lived reproductive caste of ants
| PRJNA861827 | ENA
Project description:This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
2017-08-10 | GSE83807 | GEO
Project description:Ants are among the most successful animals on earth, with societies of a complexity that rivals our own. These societies are characterized by reproductive division of labor between female queens that can live several years and lay thousands of eggs per day, workers that live only a few months and are sterile, and males that live only a few weeks and do not participate in colony tasks. These striking differences in lifespan and roles are echoed by extensive morphological and physiological divergence. Using the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, we conduct the first genome-wide survey of developmental gene expression levels over 20 time-points from larval to adult stages in workers, queens and males Three castes: Worker, queen & male; four colonies used for each caste (12 colonies total). Timepoints: 0h, 3h, 6h, 12h, 18h, 24h, 36h and 48h (hour timepoints) and once every 24hours until eclosion (day timepoints). Eclosion occured after 15 days for male (21 timepoints), 14 days for queen (20 timepoints) and 12 days for worker larvae (19 timepoints). We used a loop design with direct comparisons of consecutive samples within each cast: two loops in one Dye-direction, two loops in the other for balance. Additionally, 3-5 hybridizations against an unrelated Reference RNA were performed within each replicate loop. Microarray batch is indicated in the description column
2013-10-20 | E-GEOD-24906 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Modelling the development of caste-specific gut microbiota in bumblebees
| PRJEB21869 | ENA
Project description:Ant colonies are higher-level organisms consisting of specialized reproductive and non-reproductive individuals that differentiate early in development, similar to germ-soma segregation in bilateral Metazoa. Analogous to diverging cell lines, developmental differentiation of individual ants has often been considered in epigenetic terms but the sets of genes that determine caste phenotypes throughout larval and pupal development remain unknown. Here, we reconstruct the individual developmental trajectories of two ant species, Monomorium pharaonis and Acromyrmex echinatior, after obtaining >1,400 whole-genome transcriptomes. Using a new backward prediction algorithm, we show that caste phenotypes can be accurately predicted by genome-wide transcriptome profiling. We find that caste differentiation is increasingly canalized from early development onwards, particularly in germline individuals (gynes/queens) and that the juvenile hormone signalling pathway plays a key role in this process by regulating body mass divergence between castes. We quantified gene-specific canalization levels and found that canalized genes with gyne/queen-biased expression were enriched for ovary and wing functions while canalized genes with worker-biased expression were enriched in brain and behavioural functions. Suppression in gyne larvae of Freja, a highly canalized gyne-biased ovary gene, disturbed pupal development by inducing non-adaptive intermediate phenotypes between gynes and workers. Our results are consistent with natural selection actively maintaining canalized caste phenotypes while securing robustness in the life cycle ontogeny of ant colonies.
| S-EPMC9630140 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Ants provide remarkable examples of equivalent genotypes developing into divergent and discrete phenotypes. Diploid eggs can develop either into queens, which specialize in reproduction, or workers, which participate in cooperative tasks such as building the nest, collecting food, and rearing the young. In contrast, the differentiation between males and females generally depends upon whether eggs are fertilized, with fertilized (diploid) eggs giving rise to females and unfertilized (haploid) eggs giving rise to males. To obtain a comprehensive picture of the relative contributions of gender (sex), caste, developmental stage, and species divergence to gene expression evolution, we investigated gene expression patterns in pupal and adult queens, workers, and males of two species of fire ants, Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri. Microarray hybridizations revealed that variation in gene expression profiles is influenced more by developmental stage than by caste membership, sex, or species identity. The second major contributor to variation in gene expression was the combination of sex and caste. Although workers and queens share equivalent diploid nuclear genomes, they have highly distinctive patterns of gene expression in both the pupal and the adult stages, as might be expected given their extraordinary level of phenotypic differentiation. Overall, the difference in the proportion of differentially expressed genes was greater between workers and males than between workers and queens or queens and males, consistent with the fact that workers and males share neither gender nor reproductive capability. Moreover, between-species comparisons revealed that the greatest difference in gene expression patterns occurred in adult workers, a finding consistent with the fact that adult workers most directly experience the distinct external environments characterizing the different habitats occupied by the two species. Thus, much of the evolution of gene expression in ants may occur in the worker caste, despite the fact that these individuals are largely or completely sterile. Analyses of gene expression evolution revealed a combination of positive selection and relaxation of stabilizing selection as important factors driving the evolution of such genes. Transcriptome analysis is a powerful tool for unveiling the distribution and magnitude of genetic incompatibilities between hybridizing taxa. The nature of such incompatibilities is closely associated with the evolutionary histories of the parental species and may differ across tissues and between the sexes. In eusocial insects, the presence of distinct castes that experience divergent selection regimes may result in additional distinct patterns of caste-specific hybrid incompatibilities. We analyzed levels of expression of >14,000 genes in two life stages of each caste and sex in the fire ants Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri and in their hybrids. We found strong contributions of both developmental stage and caste to gene expression patterns. In contrast, variability in expression was only weakly associated with species, with hybrid scores falling between those of the two parental species in both life stages and all castes. Hybrid incompatibilities were surprisingly modest, with only 16 genes in pupae and 18 genes in adults being mis-expressed, and indicating low levels of disruption in gene regulation in hybrids. The castes differed in numbers of mis-expressed genes, with males and workers each mis-expressing at least seven times as many genes as queens in both life stages. Interestingly, homologues of many of the mis-expressed genes have been implicated in behavioral variation in Drosophila melanogaster. General expression profiles of hybrids consistently were more similar to those of Solenopsis richteri than Solenopsis invicta, presumably because Solenopsis richteri trans-regulatory elements tend to be dominant to those of Solenopsis invicta and/or because there is an overall bias in the genetic composition of the hybrids towards Solenopsis richteri. Altogether, our results suggest that selection acting on each caste may contribute differently to interspecific divergence and speciation in this group of ants.
2012-04-01 | GSE35217 | GEO