The genomic tool box to transform a short lived social bee into a long lived social parasite
Final Report Abstract
Within this project we were able to closely monitor the effects on the various gene cascades involved in fertility in honeybees by comparing the development of fertile A. m. capensis pseudoqueens with that of social sterile A. m. capensis and A. m. scutellata workers. The identified core set of genes contained genes that are shared with real queens (e.g. genes related to ovary activation), but the analyses also revealed pseudoqueen specific transcriptomic changes, different to both real queens and social workers that might be involved in establishing reproductive dominance. In addition, we were able to confirm previous studies that suggested that the mode of parthenogenesis is controlled by a single locus in honeybees. Moreover, about one century after thelytoky has been described for the first time in A. m. capensis and after decades of research on the genetic control of this mode of parthenogenesis in honeybees, we were able to reliably identify the locus governing this iconic phenotype. Contradicting our expectations, our results clearly show that the thelytoky allele is dominant and not recessive as previously assumed. Also the mode of inheritance of thelytoky is more complex than previously assumed as this trait is maintained by a balanced detrimental allele system, i.e. the thelytoky allele confers lethal or strongly reduced fitness consequences if homozygous. This genetic model can explain why both, the thelytokous and the arrhenotokous phenotypes coexist in the Cape honeybee and why the hybrid zone remains stable, i.e. why thelytokous bees don’t expand their range.
Publications
- (2016): Ties between ageing plasticity and reproductive physiology in honey bees (Apis mellifera) reveal a positive relation between fecundity and longevity as consequence of advanced social evolution. Curr Opin Insect Sci 16: 64-68
Rueppell O, Aumer D, Moritz RFA
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2016.05.009) - (2017) Thelytoky in Cape honeybees (Apis mellifera capensis) is controlled by a single recessive locus. Apidology 48: 401-410
Aumer D, Allsopp MH, Lattorff HMG, Moritz RFA, Jarosch-Perlow A
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-016-0484-0) - (2018): The transcriptomic changes associated with the development of social parasitism in the honeybee Apis mellifera capensis. Naturwissenschaften 105: 22
Aumer D, Mumoki FN, Pirk CWW, Moritz RFA
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-018-1552-2) - (2019): A single SNP turns a social honeybee (Apis mellifera) worker into a selfish parasite. Molecular Biology and Evolution
Aumer D, Stolle E, Allsopp M, Mumoki FN, Pirk CWW, Moritz RFA
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msy232)
