Megachile rotundata overwintering nCounter gene expression

Within the United States and Canada, the primary pollinator of alfalfa is the alfalfa leafcutting bee (ALCB), Megachile rotundata. Our previous findings showed that overwintering conditions impacted gene expression profile in ALCB prepupae that entered diapause early in the season. However, ALCB are a bivoltine species, which begs the question of whether bees entering diapause later in the season also show this trend. To better understand the effects of the timing of diapause initiation, we analyzed mRNA copy number of genes known to be involved in diapause regulation in early- and late-season diapausing ALCB that were overwintered in field conditions or using current agricultural management conditions. We hypothesized that overwintering conditions for late diapausing bees also affects gene expression profiles. Our results showed that expression profiles were altered by both overwintering condition and timing of diapause initiation, with bees that entered diapause earlier in the season ...在美国与加拿大境内，苜蓿的主要传粉昆虫为苜蓿切叶蜂（alfalfa leafcutting bee, ALCB）*Megachile rotundata*。我们此前的研究结果表明，越冬环境会影响本季早期进入滞育的苜蓿切叶蜂预蛹的基因表达谱。然而，苜蓿切叶蜂为双世代物种，这引发了一个值得探讨的问题：本季后期进入滞育的蜂群是否也会呈现这一规律？为了更深入地解析滞育起始时间所产生的效应，我们对已知参与滞育调控的基因的mRNA拷贝数开展了分析，研究对象为在野外环境或现行农业管理条件下越冬的、本季早期与晚期滞育的苜蓿切叶蜂。我们提出假说：滞育较晚的蜂群，其越冬环境同样会对其基因表达谱产生影响。研究结果显示，越冬环境与滞育起始时间均会改变基因表达谱，本季早期进入滞育的蜂群……