Reproductive workers show queen-like gene expression in an intermediately eusocial insect, the buff-tailed bumble bee Bombus terrestris

Bumble bees represent a taxon with an intermediate level of eusociality within Hymenoptera. The clear division of reproduction between a single founding queen and the largely sterile workers is characteristic for highly eusocial species, whereas the morphological similarity between the bumble bee queen and the workers is typical for more primitively eusocial hymenopterans. Also, unlike other highly eusocial hymenopterans, division of labour among worker subcastes is plastic and not predetermined by morphology or age. We conducted a differential expression analysis based on RNA-seq data from 11 combinations of developmental stage and caste to investigate how a single genome can produce the distinct castes of queens, workers and males in the buff-tailed bumble bee Bombus terrestris. Based on expression patterns, we found males to be the most distinct of all adult castes (2411 transcripts differentially expressed compared to nonreproductive workers). However, only relatively few transcript...

熊蜂是膜翅目（Hymenoptera）中一类具有中等真社会性水平的类群。单一奠基蜂后与绝大多数不育工蜂之间明确的生殖分工，是高度真社会性物种的典型特征；而熊蜂蜂后与工蜂间的形态相似性，则更符合低等真社会性膜翅目昆虫的特征。此外，与其他高度真社会性膜翅目昆虫不同，熊蜂工蜂亚品级间的劳动分工具有可塑性，并非由形态或年龄预先决定。本研究以黄尾熊蜂（Bombus terrestris）为研究对象，基于11种发育阶段与品级组合的RNA测序（RNA-seq）数据开展差异表达分析，旨在探究单个基因组如何分化产生蜂后、工蜂与雄蜂三种不同品级的个体。基于基因表达模式，我们发现雄蜂是所有成虫品级中分化最为显著的类群（与非生殖型工蜂相比，共有2411个转录本（transcripts）存在差异表达）。然而，仅有相对较少的转录本……