Theforaginggene as a modulator of division of labour in social insects

Abstract

The social ants, bees, wasps, and termites include some of the most ecologically-successful groups of animal species. Their dominance in most terrestrial environments is attributed to their social lifestyle, which enable their colonies to exploit environmental resources with remarkable efficiency. One key attribute of social insect colonies is the division of labour that emerges among the sterile workers, which represent the majority of colony members. Studies of the mechanisms that drive division of labour systems across diverse social species have provided fundamental insights into the developmental, physiological, molecular, and genomic processes that regulate sociality, and the possible genetic routes that may have led to its evolution from a solitary ancestor. Here we specifically discuss the conserved role of the foraging gene, which encodes a cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG). Originally identified as a behaviourally polymorphic gene that drives alternative foraging strategies in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, changes in foraging expression and kinase activity were later shown to play a key role in the division of labour in diverse social insect species as well. In particular, foraging appears to regulate worker transitions between behavioural tasks and specific behavioural traits associated with morphological castes. Although the specific neuroethological role of foraging in the insect brain remains mostly unknown, studies in genetically tractable insect species indicate that PKG signalling plays a conserved role in the neuronal plasticity of sensory, cognitive and motor functions, which underlie behaviours relevant to division of labour, including appetitive learning, aggression, stress response, phototaxis, and the response to pheromones.

Transcending boundaries: from quantitative genetics to single genes

“…Mariana Wolfner and colleagues provide a review on the role of octopamine in insect reproductive physiology and mating behavior (White, Chen, & Wolfner, 2021). Jamie Kramer and colleagues review courtship conditioning in Drosophila (Raun, Jones, & Kramer, 2021) and lastly, Christophe Lucas & Yehuda Ben-Shahar review the role of the foraging gene as a modulator of division of labour in social insects (Lucas & Ben-Shahar, 2021).…”

The foraging Gene Is Involved in the Presence of Wings and Explorative Behaviours in Parthenogenetic Females of the Aphid Myzus persicae

“…In the last decades, several well-studied examples that shed light on genes and pathways underlying insect behavioural plasticity have been described [1][2][3][4][5]. In particular, single genes that affect the regulation of complex, yet distinct, behaviour patterns have been identified, suggesting that mutations altering their expression may vary the response to specific environmental stimuli generating behavioural plasticity [1,[3][4][5][6].…”

“…Several recent achievements in this research field have been related to the foraging gene (for), which encodes a cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKG), suggesting that it may regulate different behaviours in several insects, including Diptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Hemiptera [1,3,[5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…Originally identified as a behaviourally polymorphic gene that drives alternative foraging strategies in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster [11], the for gene has been successively deeply studied in social insects, where it has been observed that its differential expression plays a key role in the division of labour in diverse castes [5,6,12]. In particular, for regulates worker transitions between behavioural tasks and specific behavioural traits associated with morphological castes [5].…”

“…Although the specific neurological role of for in the insect brain is currently unknown, studies in some insect species indicated that PKG signalling plays a conserved role in the neuronal plasticity of sensory, cognitive and motor functions, which underlie behaviours related to appetitive learning, aggression, stress response, phototaxis and response to pheromones [ 5 ].…”