RNAseq and ATACseq on honey bee queenless workers (whole brain)

Specialized phenotypes evolved from generalized antecedents across levels of biological organization, and castes in eusocial insect colonies have long been likened to specialized organismal cell types . We tested the prediction that caste evolution involves changes in gene regulatory network (GRN) activity, as it does for cellular differentiation. Automatic behavior monitoring using machine learning in honey bee colonies revealed a spectrum of generalists and specialists, with continuous behavioral variation subserved by continuous variation in brain GRNs. Personalized brain GRN and transcription factor (TF) motif analyses also demonstrated a strong relationship between individual specialists and TF activity, with a set of 17 TFs implicated across several different analyses as candidates in eusocial bee evolution. These results highlight striking similarities in regulatory evolution across levels of biological organization .