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Nature communications
02 03, 2021;12 (1): 775.

The molecular basis of socially mediated phenotypic plasticity in a eusocial paper wasp.

Benjamin A Taylor, Alessandro Cini, Christopher D R Wyatt, Max Reuter, Seirian Sumner
Author Information
  1. Benjamin A Taylor: Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research, University College London, London, UK. benjamin.taylor.16@ucl.ac.uk. ORCID
  2. Alessandro Cini: Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research, University College London, London, UK. ORCID
  3. Christopher D R Wyatt: Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research, University College London, London, UK.
  4. Max Reuter: Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London, London, UK. ORCID
  5. Seirian Sumner: Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research, University College London, London, UK. ORCID
PMID: 33536437 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21095-6

Abstract

Phenotypic plasticity, the ability to produce multiple phenotypes from a single genotype, represents an excellent model with which to examine the relationship between gene expression and phenotypes. Analyses of the molecular foundations of phenotypic plasticity are challenging, however, especially in the case of complex social phenotypes. Here we apply a machine learning approach to tackle this challenge by analyzing individual-level gene expression profiles of Polistes dominula paper wasps following the loss of a queen. We find that caste-associated gene expression profiles respond strongly to queen loss, and that this change is partly explained by attributes such as age but occurs even in individuals that appear phenotypically unaffected. These results demonstrate that large changes in gene expression may occur in the absence of outwardly detectable phenotypic changes, resulting here in a socially mediated de-differentiation of individuals at the transcriptomic level but not at the levels of ovarian development or behavior.

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Grants

  1. BB/R003882/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
  2. BB/S003681/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

MeSH Term

Adaptation, Physiological
Algorithms
Animals
Computational Biology
Female
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene Ontology
Gene Regulatory Networks
Humans
Machine Learning
Phenotype
Social Behavior
Transcriptome
Wasps
Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Article has an altmetric score of 30

Word Cloud

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