TY - JOUR

T1 - Sphingolipids, Transcription Factors, and Conserved Toolkit Genes

T2 - Developmental Plasticity in the Ant Cardiocondyla obscurior

AU - Schrader, Lukas

AU - Simola, Daniel F

AU - Heinze, Jürgen

AU - Oettler, Jan

N1 - © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

PY - 2015/6

Y1 - 2015/6

N2 - Developmental plasticity allows for the remarkable morphological specialization of individuals into castes in eusocial species of Hymenoptera. Developmental trajectories that lead to alternative caste fates are typically determined by specific environmental stimuli that induce larvae to express and maintain distinct gene expression patterns. Although most eusocial species express two castes, queens and workers, the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior expresses diphenic females and males; this provides a unique system with four discrete phenotypes to study the genomic basis of developmental plasticity in ants. We sequenced and analyzed the transcriptomes of 28 individual C. obscurior larvae of known developmental trajectory, providing the first in-depth analysis of gene expression in eusocial insect larvae. Clustering and transcription factor binding site analyses revealed that different transcription factors and functionally distinct sets of genes are recruited during larval development to induce the four alternative trajectories. In particular, we found complex patterns of gene regulation pertaining to sphingolipid metabolism, a conserved molecular pathway involved in development, obesity, and aging.

AB - Developmental plasticity allows for the remarkable morphological specialization of individuals into castes in eusocial species of Hymenoptera. Developmental trajectories that lead to alternative caste fates are typically determined by specific environmental stimuli that induce larvae to express and maintain distinct gene expression patterns. Although most eusocial species express two castes, queens and workers, the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior expresses diphenic females and males; this provides a unique system with four discrete phenotypes to study the genomic basis of developmental plasticity in ants. We sequenced and analyzed the transcriptomes of 28 individual C. obscurior larvae of known developmental trajectory, providing the first in-depth analysis of gene expression in eusocial insect larvae. Clustering and transcription factor binding site analyses revealed that different transcription factors and functionally distinct sets of genes are recruited during larval development to induce the four alternative trajectories. In particular, we found complex patterns of gene regulation pertaining to sphingolipid metabolism, a conserved molecular pathway involved in development, obesity, and aging.

KW - Animals

KW - Ants

KW - Cell Plasticity

KW - Female

KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental

KW - Genes, Insect

KW - Larva

KW - Male

KW - Multigene Family

KW - Phenotype

KW - Sequence Analysis, RNA

KW - Sphingolipids

KW - Transcription Factors

KW - Transcriptome

U2 - 10.1093/molbev/msv039

DO - 10.1093/molbev/msv039

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 25725431

VL - 32

SP - 1474

EP - 1486

JO - Molecular Biology and Evolution

JF - Molecular Biology and Evolution

SN - 0737-4038

IS - 6

ER -