Transcriptomic analyses of the termite, Cryptotermes secundus, reveal a gene network underlying a long lifespan and high fecundity.
Commun Biol
; 4(1): 384, 2021 03 22.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33753888
ABSTRACT
Organisms are typically characterized by a trade-off between fecundity and longevity. Notable exceptions are social insects. In insect colonies, the reproducing caste (queens) outlive their non-reproducing nestmate workers by orders of magnitude and realize fecundities and lifespans unparalleled among insects. How this is achieved is not understood. Here, we identified a single module of co-expressed genes that characterized queens in the termite species Cryptotermes secundus. It encompassed genes from all essential pathways known to be involved in life-history regulation in solitary model organisms. By manipulating its endocrine component, we tested the recent hypothesis that re-wiring along the nutrient-sensing/endocrine/fecundity axis can account for the reversal of the fecundity/longevity trade-off in social insect queens. Our data from termites do not support this hypothesis. However, they revealed striking links to social communication that offer new avenues to understand the re-modelling of the fecundity/longevity trade-off in social insects.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Isópteros
/
Perfilação da Expressão Gênica
/
Redes Reguladoras de Genes
/
Fertilidade
/
Transcriptoma
/
Longevidade
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article