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Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology

Section Symposium

Insects Inspire Innovation in the Study of Conserved Evolutionary Toolkits On-Demand Presentations

Evidence for a caste-based behavioural toolkit in primitively eusocial hymenopterans

On-Demand

Presenting Author(s)

Christopher D R Wyatt (he/him/his)

Post Doc
University College London
Moraira-Tuelada, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain

Co-author(s)

Emeline Favreau (she/her/hers)

Bioinformatics Postdoc
University College London
London, England, United Kingdom
KG

Katherine Geist

Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa
MB

Michael Bentley

University College London
London, England, United Kingdom
DT

Daisy Taylor

University of Bristol
Bristol, England, United Kingdom
RB

Ryan Brock

University of East Anglia
Norwich, England, United Kingdom
BT

Benjamin A. Taylor (he/him/his)

Postdoctoral Fellow
Purdue University
London, England, United Kingdom
EB

Emily Bell

University of Bristol
Bristol, England, United Kingdom
EL

Ellouise Leadbeater

Royal Holloway University of London
Egham, England, United Kingdom
Sandra M. Rehan

Associate Professor of Biology
York University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Amy Toth

Associate Professor
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa
SS

Seirian Sumner

University College London
London, England, United Kingdom

Complex sociality, whereby the group represents a new level of individuality, is one of the major transitions in evolution. Genomic analyses of complex social insect ‘superorganismal’ societies, such as honeybees and ants, have revealed some of the mechanisms and evolutionary processes underpinning this evolutionary transition. Genomic analyses of species representing intermediate stages in the major evolutionary transition provide key insights into the proximate and ultimate processes at play prior to the shift in selection from the individual to the society. We lack the genomic resources for such species, but also any knowledge of what happens at the proteomics level. Briefly, I will go over our recent transcriptional based analysis of potential toolkit genes in a spectrum of social wasps, before exploring recent proteomics data from Polistes canadensis (a wasp with simple societies and highly plastic castes) and Polybia occidentalis (a swarm founding social wasp, with more complex and fixed societies). Showing that caste-specific transcriptomic and proteomic profiles exist for these two species, though with little correlation between gene expression and protein intensity.