Allele specific expression in worker reproduction genes in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris
نویسندگان
چکیده
Methylation has previously been associated with allele specific expression in ants. Recently, we found methylation is important in worker reproduction in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Here we searched for allele specific expression in twelve genes associated with worker reproduction in bees. We found allele specific expression in Ecdysone 20 monooxygenase and IMP-L2-like. Although we were unable to confirm a genetic or epigenetic cause for this allele specific expression, the expression patterns of the two genes match those predicted for imprinted genes.
منابع مشابه
Allele specific expression and methylation in the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris
The social hymenoptera are emerging as models for epigenetics. DNA methylation, the addition of a methyl group, is a common epigenetic marker. In mammals and flowering plants methylation affects allele specific expression. There is contradictory evidence for the role of methylation on allele specific expression in social insects. The aim of this paper is to investigate allele specific expressio...
متن کاملNest wax triggers worker reproduction in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris.
Social insects are well known for their high level of cooperation. Workers of the primitively eusocial bumblebee Bombus terrestris are able to produce male offspring in the presence of a queen. Nonetheless, they only compete for reproduction, in the so-called competition phase, when the workforce is large enough to support the rearing of reproductives. So far, little is known about the proximat...
متن کاملMonoallelic methylation and allele specific expression in a social insect
Social insects are emerging models for epigenetics. Here we examine the link between monoallelic methylation and monoallelic expression in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris using whole methylome and transcriptome analysis. We found nineteen genes displaying monoallelic methylation and expression. They were enriched for functions to do with social organisation in the social insects. These are the ...
متن کاملA conserved class of queen pheromones? Re-evaluating the evidence in bumblebees (Bombus impatiens).
The regulation of reproductive division of labour is a key component in the evolution of social insects. Chemical signals are important mechanisms to regulate worker reproduction, either as queen-produced pheromones that coercively inhibit worker reproduction or as queen signals that honestly advertise her fecundity. A recent study suggested that a conserved class of hydrocarbons serve as queen...
متن کاملCaste-specific differences in ecdysteroid titers in early larval stages of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris.
Mounting evidence implicates ecdysteroids in queen-worker differentiation during the last larval instars of highly social insects. In the present study, we analyzed ecdysteroid titers in queen and worker larvae of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris from the second to the early fourth instar. B. terrestris is of particular interest because caste is already determined in the second instar, presumabl...
متن کامل