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Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

Section Symposium

Inspirational Advances in Social Insect Evolution via Integrative Omics Approach

Mean dads mean kids? Epigenetic mechanism underlying paternal inheritance of aggressive behavior in honeybees

Sunday, November 13, 2022

1:45 PM – 2:00 PM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 207

Presenting Author(s)

HL

Hongmei Li-Byarlay

Associate Professor
Central State University
Wilberforce, Ohio

Co-author(s)

EL

Ellen Lee

Wright State University
Dayton, Ohio
SB

Sean Bresnahan

Graduate Student
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
MD

Myra Dickey

Graduate Student
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas

Co-Author(s)

Christina M. Grozinger

Publius Vergilius Maro Professor
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
Juliana Rangel

Associate Professor of Apiculture
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas

The epigenetic mark of N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) is the main type of modification in RNAs of eukaryotes and represents about 80% of all RNA methylation. But the epigenomic role of m6A in social honeybees (Apis mellifera) is still unknown. Aggression is a complex social behavior with a complicated biological basis. A dramatic difference between Africanized Honeybees (AHB) and Europe Honeybees (EHB) is the aggressive behavior for defense. Africanized paternity hybrids (AHB father and EHB mother) display significantly faster sting response time compared to Africanized maternity hybrids (EHB father and AHB mother). The m6A RNA methylation may determine the epigenetic inheritance of aggression behavior in honeybees. By sequencing soldiers and hive workers from reciprocal crosses using long reads of Nanopore sequencing technology, we identified and quantified the distribution of m6A and paternal influence in the two generations (paternity hybrids and their parents, compared and analyzed the m6A levels in allele-specific gene expressions by an epitranscriptomic approach. Our data specify key genes and pathways with differentially methylated regions to demonstrate the epigenetic mechanisms by which honeybee aggression evolved.