Application of omics tools to the study of chemosensory-related genes and the parasitism in bees

• Grant number: 23/15712-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Maria Cristina Arias
• Grantee: Felipe Cordeiro Dias
• Supervisor: Serge Aron
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/13437-7 - About parasitism relationships in bees: omic analyzes of chemosensory genes, BP.DR

Abstract

The chemosensory-related genes (CRGs) encompass well-documented gene families and playa crucial role in insects ability to recognize stimuli, and are implied in many biologicalprocesses. Bees are valuable models for the study of this system, given their diverse habitats,lifestyles, social organizations, complex behaviors, including various parasitism displays. Theadvances in sequencing and other molecular techniques have enabled more comprehensivestudies of the organisms' genome structure and function, which also have provided genetic-molecular insights on phenotypes, ecological responses and evolutionary history. The mainobjective of my PhD project is to perform omic analysis for the CRGs in six bee species; ourinitial results have provided insights into genome organization and CRGs composition for thetarget species. This BEPE project aims to improve these findings by employing newsequencing technologies, such as chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) analysis,proteomics, and generation of genomes for additional species of Apoidea, to broaden thescope of analysis and achieve more refined predictions, beyond the production of referencegenomes that can be used in further analysis. The focus on the parasite-host relationship aimsto unveil how the chemosensory-related genes and their products are involved in thisbehavior and trace the evolutionary mechanisms behind it. Additionally, the collaborationwith Dr Serge Aron's laboratory team, specialized in the multidimensional study of complexbehaviors in Hymenoptera, will enrich our study by discussing our findings and expand ourexpertise in sequencing technologies and molecular approaches.