Campus Units

Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Entomology

Document Type

Article

Publication Version

Published Version

Publication Date

2017

Journal or Book Title

Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Volume

284

Issue

1857

First Page

20170651

DOI

10.1098/rspb.2017.0651

Abstract

The social and nutritional environments during early development have the potential to affect offspring traits, but the mechanisms and molecular underpinnings of these effects remain elusive. We used Polistes fuscatus paper wasps to dissect how maternally controlled factors (vibrational signals and nourishment) interact to induce different caste developmental trajectories in female offspring, leading to worker or reproductive (gyne) traits. We established a set of caste phenotype biomarkers in P. fuscatus females, finding that gyne-destined individuals had high expression of three caste-related genes hypothesized to have roles in diapause and mitochondrial metabolism. We then experimentally manipulated maternal vibrational signals (via artificial ‘antennal drumming’) and nourishment levels (via restricted foraging). We found that these caste-related biomarker genes were responsive to drumming, nourishment level or their interaction. Our results provide a striking example of the potent influence of maternal and nutritional effects in influencing transcriptional activity and developmental outcomes in offspring.

Comments

This article is published as Jandt, Jennifer M., Sainath Suryanarayanan, John C. Hermanson, Robert L. Jeanne, and Amy L. Toth. "Maternal and nourishment factors interact to influence offspring developmental trajectories in social wasps." Proc. R. Soc. B 284, no. 1857 (2017): 20170651. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0651.

Rights

Works produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted.

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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