Combining transcriptomes and ultraconserved elements to illuminate the phylogeny of Apidae

Bossert, Silas; Murray, Elizabeth A.; Almeida, Eduardo A. B.; Brady, Seán G.; Blaimer, Bonnie B.; Danforth, Bryan N.

doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.012

Cited by 158 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 82 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

135

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The honey bees (Apis) and the stingless bees (Melipona) share a eusocial ancestor, but most likely represent two, independent transitions from simple to complex eusociality (i.e. with morphologically specialized castes, swarm-founding, and large colony sizes) within the social corbiculates [4,55]. Again, distributions of mean relative rates were not skewed by behavioral type, so our results should not be biased to identify changes in evolutionary rates in one particular direction (Fig.…”

Section: A Subset Of Ncars Show Concordant Rates Of Change Associatedmentioning

confidence: 90%

Rate variation in the evolution of non-coding DNA associated with social evolution in bees

Jones

Hunt

et al. 2018

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

14The evolutionary origins of eusociality represent increases in complexity from individual to caste-15 based, group reproduction. These behavioral transitions have been hypothesized to go hand-in- 16hand with an increased ability to regulate when and where genes are expressed. Bees have 17 convergently evolved eusociality up to five times, providing a framework to test this hypothesis. 18To examine potential links between putative gene regulatory elements and social evolution, we 19 compare alignable, non-coding sequences in eleven diverse bee species, encompassing three 20 independent origins of reproductive division of labor and two elaborations of eusocial complexity. 21We find that rates of evolution in a number of non-coding sequences correlate with key social 22 transitions in bees. Interestingly, while we find little evidence for convergent rate changes 23 associated with independent origins of social behavior, a number of molecular pathways exhibit 24 convergent rate changes in conjunction with subsequent elaborations of social organization. We 25 also present evidence that many novel non-coding regions may have been recruited alongside 26 the origin of sociality in corbiculate bees; these loci could represent gene regulatory elements 27 associated with division of labor within this group. Thus, our findings are consistent with the 28 hypothesis that gene regulatory innovations are associated with the evolution of eusociality and 29 illustrate how a thorough examination of both coding and non-coding sequence can provide a 30 more complete understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying behavioral evolution. 32 33Introduction 34 35Many genomic sequences that do not encode proteins play essential roles in gene regulation 36 across animals [1] and plants [2]. The breadth of knowledge of these non-coding regulatory 37 elements has been built primarily upon the large number of plant and vertebrate genomes that 38 have been sequenced over the past decade. However, the high degree of conservation that exists 39 in a subset of these non-coding regions [1,3] means that comparative methods can be used to 40 identify similar non-coding elements even in the recently sequenced genomes of non-model taxa 41 that frequently lack the resources needed to characterize regulatory regions via functional assays. outside of Drosophila [4], the non-coding regulatory landscape of these taxa has been the target 44 of few studies. 46Here, we take advantage of eleven publicly-available bee genomes [5][6][7][8][9] to examine how non-47 coding elements change as eusociality -an extreme form of social behavior found primarily in 48 insects and mammals -has convergently evolved and increased in complexity within bees. 49Eusociality is of particular interest to evolutionary biologists because it represents an increase in 50 complexity from individual to group-level reproduction and includes the evolution of a non-51 reproductive worker caste [10]. Along with reproductively-specialized castes, many of these 52 societies have also e...

show abstract

Section: A Subset Of Ncars Show Concordant Rates Of Change Associatedmentioning

confidence: 90%

Rate variation in the evolution of non-coding DNA associated with social evolution in bees

Jones

Hunt

et al. 2018

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Bee species were chosen based on their behaviour (primitively eusocial and highly eusocial), phylogenetic relationship (corbiculate bees 24 ), and sampling convenience. Samples were from three colonies per species.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We aim to fill in this knowledge gap through the analyses of the global gene expression differences between nurses and foragers, and the characterization of nurses DNA methylation profile in two eusocial bee species, the primitively eusocial buff-tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris , and the highly eusocial stingless bee, Tetragonisca angustula . Combined, these two bee species and the honeybee represent the three evolutionary branches of eusocial corbiculates sharing a common social origin 24 . Hence, in addition to using the generated datasets to uncover unique and more recent molecular traits linked to task division in B. terrestris and T. angustula , we also verified whether common genes and pathways could be involved in task specialization across all the eusocial bee groups.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple lineages, same molecular basis: task specialization is commonly regulated across all eusocial bee groups

Araujo

Arias

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

14A striking feature of advanced insect societies is the existence of workers that forgo 15 reproduction. Two broad types of workers exist in eusocial bees: nurses which care 16 for their young siblings and the queen, and foragers who guard the nest and forage for 17 food. Comparisons between this two worker subcastes have been performed in 18 honeybees, but data from other bees are scarce. To understand whether similar 19 molecular mechanisms are involved in nurse-forager differences across distinct 20 species, we compared gene expression and DNA methylation profiles between nurses 21 and foragers of the buff-tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris and of the stingless bee 22Tetragonisca angustula. These datasets were then discussed comparatively to 23 previous findings on honeybees. Our analyses revealed that although the expression 24 pattern of genes is often species-specific, many of the biological processes and 25 molecular pathways involved are common. Moreover, DNA methylation and gene 26 expression correlation were dependent on the nucleotide context. 27 subcastes evolved it is necessary to differentiate such more recent changes -that 53 could be species-specific -from those shared across species, and thus likely ancestral. 54The highly eusocial stingless bees have age-based division of labour 18 , similarly to 55 that of honeybees despite their most common ancestor being 50 to 80 million years 56 ago 19,20 . To date, no global expression or epigenetic studies have been performed in 57 stingless bees to understand worker task specialization. Similarly, while primitively 58 eusocial bumblebees are largely studied ecological biological models and important 59 wild and managed pollinators, we know comparatively little about the molecular 60 underpinnings of differences between its worker subcastes. Indeed, studies have been 61 restricted to few genes, leaving many open questions [21][22][23] . A major limiting element 62 for these studies is that this species display a somewhat fluctuating division of labour 63 with indistinctive separation between subcastes 10,21,23 . 64We aim to fill in this knowledge gap through the analyses of the global gene 65 expression differences between nurses and foragers, and the characterization of nurses 66 DNA methylation profile in two eusocial bee species, the primitively eusocial buff-67 tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, and the highly eusocial stingless bee, 68Tetragonisca angustula. Combined, these two bee species and the honeybee represent 69 the three evolutionary branches of eusocial corbiculates sharing a common social 70 origin 24 . Hence, in addition to using the generated datasets to uncover unique and 71 more recent molecular traits linked to task division in B. terrestris and T. angustula, 72 we also verified whether common genes and pathways could be involved in task 73 specialization across all the eusocial bee groups. 74 75Results 76 task-dependent foraging gene expression in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Arch. Insect

show abstract

“…The offspring of the parasite then feeds and completes its development on the provisions gathered by the host bee for its own offspring. In solitary bees, brood parasitic lineages have evolved independently from nest-making ancestors approximately 18 times: three independent origins are known in the family Apidae [12,27], five in Megachilidae [13,28], approximately nine in Halictidae [11,29,30] and at least one in Colletidae [31,32]. Over the course of evolutionary time, morphological structures associated with nesting behaviour, no longer under positive selection in brood parasitic lineages, have been lost.…”

Section: Brood Parasitic Strategies In Solitary Beesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Under the radar: detection avoidance in brood parasitic bees

Litman¹

2019

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Combining transcriptomes and ultraconserved elements to illuminate the phylogeny of Apidae

Cited by 158 publications

References 82 publications

Rate variation in the evolution of non-coding DNA associated with social evolution in bees

Rate variation in the evolution of non-coding DNA associated with social evolution in bees

Multiple lineages, same molecular basis: task specialization is commonly regulated across all eusocial bee groups

Under the radar: detection avoidance in brood parasitic bees

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About