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Brain Micrornas Among Social And Solitary Bees, Karen M. Kapheim, Beryl M. Jones, Eirik Søvik, Eckart Stolle, Robert M. Waterhouse, Guy Bloch, Yehuda Ben-Shahar
Brain Micrornas Among Social And Solitary Bees, Karen M. Kapheim, Beryl M. Jones, Eirik Søvik, Eckart Stolle, Robert M. Waterhouse, Guy Bloch, Yehuda Ben-Shahar
Biology Faculty Publications
Evolutionary transitions to a social lifestyle in insects are associated with lineage-specific changes in gene expression, but the key nodes that drive these regulatory changes are unknown. We examined the relationship between social organization and lineage-specific microRNAs (miRNAs). Genome scans across 12 bee species showed that miRNA copy-number is mostly conserved and not associated with sociality. However, deep sequencing of small RNAs in six bee species revealed a substantial proportion (20–35%) of detected miRNAs had lineage-specific expression in the brain, 24–72% of which did not have homologues in other species. Lineage-specific miRNAs disproportionately target lineage-specific genes, and have lower expression …
Developmental Plasticity Shapes Social Traits And Selection In A Facultatively Eusocial Bee, Karen M. Kapheim, Beryl M. Jones, Hailin Pan, Cai Li, Brock A. Harpur, Clement F. Kent, Amro Zayed, Panagiotis Ioannidis, Robert M. Waterhouse, Callum Kingwell, Eckart Stolle, Arián Avalos, Guojie Zhang, W. Owen Mcmillan, William T. Wcislo
Developmental Plasticity Shapes Social Traits And Selection In A Facultatively Eusocial Bee, Karen M. Kapheim, Beryl M. Jones, Hailin Pan, Cai Li, Brock A. Harpur, Clement F. Kent, Amro Zayed, Panagiotis Ioannidis, Robert M. Waterhouse, Callum Kingwell, Eckart Stolle, Arián Avalos, Guojie Zhang, W. Owen Mcmillan, William T. Wcislo
Biology Faculty Publications
Developmental plasticity generates phenotypic variation, but how it contributes to evolutionary change is unclear. Phenotypes of individuals in caste-based (eusocial) societies are particularly sensitive to developmental processes, and the evolutionary origins of eusociality may be rooted in developmental plasticity of ancestral forms. We used an integrative genomics approach to evaluate the relationships among developmental plasticity, molecular evolution, and social behavior in a bee species (Megalopta genalis) that expresses flexible sociality, and thus provides a window into the factors that may have been important at the evolutionary origins of eusociality. We find that differences in social behavior are derived …