Pogonomyrmex barbatus transcriptome project

The harvester ant transcriptome set was generated from multiple developmental stages (larva, pupa, adult) of both worker and queen castes. RNA for all samples was pooled, not normalized, and sequenced using one full run on the FLX Titanium platform. The colony of origin for these data was different from that of the genome sequence. The transcriptome was derived from a three year old laboratory colony of the J1/J2 dependent lineage system. In this system the queen obligately mates with males of two reproductively isolated lineages, J1 and J2; offspring from matings within the lineage develop as queens and offspring from matings across lineages develop as workers. The queen of this colony was from the J1 lineage. While morphologically indistinguishable from normal P. barbatus, the J-lineages are both of hybrid character (ancient hybridization between P. barbatus and its sister species P. rugosus). The J1 lineage has a nuclear genome more similar to P. rugosus while J2 is more similar to P. barbatus. Due to their phenotypic similarity to P. barbatus they are still classified as P. barbatus, but are clearly different based on the hybrid composition of their colonies.