Comparative transcriptomics - a tool for the identification of genes and evolutionary processes associated with plasticity in the lifestyles of stingless bees (Meliponini)

• Grant number: 23/02833-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2023
• End date: December 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Klaus Hartmann Hartfelder
• Grantee: Vitória Pereira Pozzato
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/13296-9 - Molecular basis of behavioral plasticity and reproductive strategies in life histories evolution of Neotropical stingless bees, AP.TEM

Abstract

Stingless bees are highly variable in terms of characteristics of their social organization. Here we make use of this "natural experiment" for investigating the molecular bases and of possible signatures of natural selection, especially positive selection, by means of comparative transcriptomics. For this, we chose three species that differn in the lifestyles of their workers in terms of the workers' repriductive potential and in aggressiveness. RNA libraries will be generated for three relevant tissues, the brain, the ovaries, and the fat body, dissected from worker of three life cycle stages, newly emerged workers, nurse bees, and foragers. The sequencing data will be used to identify differentially expressed genes across the life cycle stages and tissues of each of the three species.