TY - JOUR
T1 - The genetic basis of a social polymorphism in halictid bees
AU - Kocher, Sarah D.
AU - Mallarino, Ricardo
AU - Rubin, Benjamin E.R.
AU - Yu, Douglas W.
AU - Hoekstra, Hopi E.
AU - Pierce, Naomi E.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank C. Plateaux-Quenu and L. Plateaux for their invaluable guidance and input on this project. We thank J. Couget, S. Picard, K. Turner, and the BGI team for assistance with molecular work, and A. Brelsford, M. Chapuisat, A. Finkelstein, R. Jeanson, L. Keller, D. Michez, L. Murphy, M. Podolak, J. Purcell, L. Pellissier, P. Servigne, W. Tong, and E. Youngsteadt for assistance in the field. We also thank W. Tong for providing the drawings in Fig. 1. This work was supported by NSF-IOS 1257543 (to N.E.P. and H.E.H.) and by CAS-GYHZ1754, QYZDY-SSW-SMC024, MOST-2012FY110800, 20080A001, and the Kunming Institute of Zoology’s State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution (to D.W.Y.). S.D.K. was supported by Foundational Questions in Evolutionary Biology and National Institute of Food and Agriculture postdoctoral fellowships, grants from the Putnam Expeditionary Fund of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, and Princeton University. R.M. was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (to H.E.H.). H.E.H. is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - The emergence of eusociality represents a major evolutionary transition from solitary to group reproduction. The most commonly studied eusocial species, honey bees and ants, represent the behavioral extremes of social evolution but lack close relatives that are non-social. Unlike these species, the halictid bee Lasioglossum albipes produces both solitary and eusocial nests and this intraspecific variation has a genetic basis. Here, we identify genetic variants associated with this polymorphism, including one located in the intron of syntaxin 1a (syx1a), a gene that mediates synaptic vesicle release. We show that this variant can alter gene expression in a pattern consistent with differences between social and solitary bees. Surprisingly, syx1a and several other genes associated with sociality in L. albipes have also been implicated in autism spectrum disorder in humans. Thus, genes underlying behavioral variation in L. albipes may also shape social behaviors across a wide range of taxa, including humans.
AB - The emergence of eusociality represents a major evolutionary transition from solitary to group reproduction. The most commonly studied eusocial species, honey bees and ants, represent the behavioral extremes of social evolution but lack close relatives that are non-social. Unlike these species, the halictid bee Lasioglossum albipes produces both solitary and eusocial nests and this intraspecific variation has a genetic basis. Here, we identify genetic variants associated with this polymorphism, including one located in the intron of syntaxin 1a (syx1a), a gene that mediates synaptic vesicle release. We show that this variant can alter gene expression in a pattern consistent with differences between social and solitary bees. Surprisingly, syx1a and several other genes associated with sociality in L. albipes have also been implicated in autism spectrum disorder in humans. Thus, genes underlying behavioral variation in L. albipes may also shape social behaviors across a wide range of taxa, including humans.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-018-06824-8
DO - 10.1038/s41467-018-06824-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 30337532
AN - SCOPUS:85055071396
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 9
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 4338
ER -