FOR 2281 WP01: Comparative evolutionary analyses of molecular underpinning of the reversal of the fecundity/longevity trade-off in social insects using genomic and RNAseq data

Basic data for this project

Description

A hallmark of ageing is the trade-off between fecundity and longevity. Some, albeit relatively few,species show a reversal of this tradeoff. In particular in some social insects, such as ants, beesand termites, individuals with identical genomic background differentiate by means of phenotypicplasticity into castes with two different life history strategies, i.e. into long-lived highly fecundqueens (and kings) and short-lived sterile workers.Projects in this research unit will investigate the molecular and genetic underpinnings of thisreversal by comparing differently aged individuals across several social and non-social speciesand by using common experimental manipulations of trade-off variables influencing fecundityand longevity.Goals of this project are two-fold: first we will support the research groups of the research unit intheir analyses of RNAseq data which the groups will generate for several hundred individualsunder all the different conditions and manipulations. Our group will provide custom-made scripts forprocessing and analysing expression data, technical infrastructure, training of researchers in thegroups and will, together with the core-project (Korb), support the comparative analyses.Second goal is to obtain, by combining comparative genomic data with RNAseq data andconclusions gained from the individual projects, a deeper insight into the communalities, possiblecommon evolutionary roots and divergent evolutionary trajectories of the "toolkit" which has so farbeen conjectured to be crucial for regulation of ageing, such as the enzymes in the juvenilehormone, the insulin and TOR pathways. Specifically, we will investigate signals of adaptation,such as adaptive pressure on sequences, modular rearrangements of proteins and the emergenceand expansion or loss of genes or their fragments. We will also investigate possible regulatorychanges using differential expression, cis-regulatory changes and changes in methylation patterns.Furthermore, we will screen for proteins and RNAs which may too be involved in regulating the lifespan but have hitherto been overlooked in earlier projects which have only concentrated on singleexperimental manipulations in one species.Resulting data will be disseminated to the research unit and the wider scientific community, serveas input for the modelling project (Pen) and help generate new hypotheses for the anticipatedsecond funding period.