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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Baton Rouge, Louisiana » Honey Bee Lab » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #363573
Title: Developmental plasticity shapes social traits and selection in a facultatively eusocial bee

Author
item KAPHEIM, KAREN - UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
item JONES, BERYL - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
item PAN, HAILIN - CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
item LI, CAI - THE FRANCIS CRICK INSTITUTE
item HARPUR, BROCK - PURDUE UNIVERSITY
item KENT, CLEMENT - YORK UNIVERSITY
item ZAYED, AMRO - YORK UNIVERSITY
item IOANNIDIS, PANAGIOTIS - INSTITUTE OF MOLECULARBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY OF THE FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY - HELLAS
item WATERHOUSE, ROBERT - INSTITUTE OF MOLECULARBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY OF THE FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY - HELLAS
item KINGWELL, CALLUM - CORNELL UNIVERSITY
item STOLLE, ECKARD - MARTIN LUTHER UNIVERSITY
item Avalos, Arian
item ZHANG, GUOJIE - CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
item MCMILLAN, W - SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH
item WCISLO, WILLIAM - SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH

Submitted to: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/29/2020
Publication Date: 5/29/2020
Citation: Kapheim, K., Jones, B., Pan, H., Li, C., Harpur, B.A., Kent, C.F., Zayed, A., Ioannidis, P., Waterhouse, R.M., Kingwell, C., Stolle, E., Avalos, A., Zhang, G., McMillan, W.O., Wcislo, W.T. 2020. Developmental plasticity shapes social traits and selection in a facultatively eusocial bee. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 117(24):13615-13625. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2000344117.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2000344117

Interpretive Summary: A major point of interest in the study of evolution is how variation during development contributes to observable traits. This is particularly important in social insects where similar genetic blueprints give rise to very different types of the same organism. The work outlined used a solitary bee (Megalopta genalis) which can rear progeny alone, or in a group, to show that behavioral traits associated with sociality come from ancestral genetic components involved in development. Further the work shows how variation in these components contribute to selection favoring social groups. This research outlines how variation during development provides the substrate for selection and plays a key role in evolution.

Technical Abstract: Understanding the evolutionary role of developmental plasticity is empirically challenging because it is difficult to reconstruct the origins of traits that evolved millions of years ago. We overcame this challenge by studying a bee species (Megalopta genalis) with phenotypic variation representative of transitional states in a major evolutionary innovation – eusociality. We used an integrative genomics approach to provide support for hypotheses that social traits are derived from genes regulating ancestral forms of developmental plasticity, and that developmental plasticity influences selection patterns underlying social evolution. We further reveal adaptive changes in gene regulation and genetic variants with possible antagonistic fitness effects between social types which accompany evolutionary transitions. We demonstrate that developmental plasticity provides the substrate for evolutionary innovation and shapes the selective landscape for molecular evolution.