Pharaoh ant Leaf-cutter ant Frutfly
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PROVIDER: PRJNA767561 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
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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: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:Leaf-cutting ants of the genera Acromyrmex and Atta live in mutualistic symbiosis with a basidiomycete fungus (Leucocoprinus gongylophorus), which they cultivate as fungal gardens in underground nest chambers. The ants provide the fungus with a growth substrate consisting of freshly cut leaf fragments. After new leaf fragments are brought into the nest, the ants chew them into smaller pieces and apply droplets of fecal fluid to the leaf pulp before depositing this mixed substrate in the fungus garden and inoculating it with small tufts of mycelium from older parts of the garden. Previous work has shown that the fecal fluid contains a range of digestive enzymes including proteases, amylases, chitinases, cellulases, pectinases, hemicellulases and laccases, and that most of these enzymes are produced by the fungal symbiont in specialized structures called gongylidia that the ants eat. After ingestion, the enzymes apparently pass unharmed through the alimentary channel of the ants and end up in the fecal fluid. Most likely this complex system is an adaptation of the ant-fungus symbiosis to a herbivorous lifestyle, as the ancient ancestors of the ants and the fungus lived as hunter-gatherers and saprotrophs, respectively. The promise of fecal fluid for getting insight into the molecular adaptations that enables the ant-fungus holosymbiont to live as a herbivore, led us to investigate the fecal fluid proteome using LC-MS/MS in order to get a more comprehensive picture of the repertoire of proteins present.
2021-01-12 | PXD016395 | Pride
Project description:Animal longevity widely differs across species, and even individuals from the same species may exhibit different rates of ageing. In different species, the rate at which individuals actually age is related to the level of their social interactions, but this was still not known in ants. In a given colony, ant individuals are close genetic relatives, exhibit very different behaviours and a contrasted lifespan according to the Caste. Such characteristics constitute main advantages to study relationships between sociality and ageing. Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterize differences in the proteome of Lasius niger queens versus that of domestic and foraging workers. Proteomic data were put in relation with the behaviour of individuals from the three Castes. Hence, it was found that sociality correlates with ant longevity, with i) social immunity enabling the queen to mainly invest in soma protection, and ii) marked exposition of workers to the environment and nutrients inducing metabolic pathways that reduce their lifespan.
2020-08-03 | PXD006779 | Pride
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. We analyzed samples from two species, their hybrids: a total of 140 samples, consisting of either workers, queens or males (1-5 pooled individuals) and collected either as larvae, pupae or adults. Each sample was tested once (i.e. single biological replicate) against a common reference (dye-swap across experiments)
2012-03-31 | E-GEOD-35217 | biostudies-arrayexpress
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
Project description:Transcriptomes of dissected brains from workers from polygyne fire ants were analyzed. Four replicates were obtained.
2020-07-18 | GSE117432 | GEO
Project description:To allow estimation of the complexity and gene expression differences of the antennal transcriptome between sexes as well as between castes, microarrays were designed based on an assembly of A. vollenweideri antennal sequence data from all sexes and castes. The microarrays were hybridized with samples generated from the respecitve antennal tissues, with four independent sample pools per sex and caste.
2013-10-01 | GSE48824 | GEO
Project description:The goal of this study was to assay the extent of variation in chromatin organization between 3 ant castes (major and minor female workers and males) in one colony of Camponotus floridanus carpenter ant using ChIPseq. 45 samples total: 30 ChIP samples and 3 inputs for total histone H3, 7 histone H3 PTMs and RNA Pol II in major, minor, and male ants; CBP in major and minor ants; the major H3K27ac sample was replicated. 4 ChIP samples for H3 and H3K27ac in brains of majors and minors, and 2 inputs. 2 RNAseq samples for major and minor ants head+thorax; 4 RNAseq samples for brain (majors and minors with 2 replicates each).
2012-11-26 | E-GEOD-37523 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:To allow estimation of the complexity and gene expression differences of the antennal transcriptome between sexes as well as between castes, microarrays were designed based on an assembly of A. vollenweideri antennal sequence data from all sexes and castes. The microarrays were hybridized with samples generated from the respecitve antennal tissues, with four independent sample pools per sex and caste. Custom 2x105 k Agilent microarrays (Agilent Technologies, Palo Alto, CA) were designed based on the antennal transcriptome data of A.vollenweideri. For all contigs with an identified ORF by automatic annotation, two 60mer oligo probes were designed, with two additional 60mer oligo probes for opposite reading direction for those with unknown ORF, thus resulting in 4 oligo probes per contig. Additionally, we added three 60mer oligo probes for each identified and revised OR coding gene, resulting in a total of 5 oligo probes per OR coding contig. For design and arrangement of the Agilent microarrays, the eArray software (Agilent Technologies, Palo Alto, CA) was used. For sex- and caste-specific antennal microarray hybridizations, RNA from antennae of 50 (Males) to 300 (Tiny Workers) individuals was pooled per preparation, and four pools (replicates) each were dissected per sex and caste, respectively. Double purified total RNA was added to Agilent Technologies spike-in RNA and labeld using QuickAmp Amplification kit (Agilent Technologies) and the Kreatech ULS Fluorescent Labeling Kit with cyanine 3-CTP dye following the manufacturer´s instructions. Amplified cRNA samples were used for microarray hybridization, scanned with the Agilent Microarray Scanner and data was extracted from TIFF images with Agilent Feature Extraction software version 9.1. Raw data output files were analyzed using the GeneSpring GX11 and GeneSifter microarray analysis softwares.
2013-10-01 | E-GEOD-48824 | biostudies-arrayexpress