H2020Индивидуална стипендия2022–2024

WASSUP · Wasp’s up? The molecular regulation of behavioural transitions in solitary wasps

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2022-01-15 → 2024-01-14
Финансиране от ЕС: 224 934 €
Участници: 1
Схема: MSCA-IF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Генетичните разлики между два вида самотни оси обясняват защо едната храни потомството си веднъж, а другата го прави постоянно. Разбирането на тези примитивни форми на грижа помага да се проследи как е еволюнцирало сътрудничеството при животните и хората.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Wasp’s up? The molecular regulation of behavioural transitions in solitary wasps

To understand the behaviour of animals, we need to use different approaches, from observing them and making predictions, or taking a step further and looking into their DNA. Each species of animal has their own genes and genomes (whole DNA molecules)’ the environment influences how genes are expressed, resulting in different kinds of behaviour. This project was focused ono studying insects, specifically solitary sand wasps. They are interesting because two closely related species - Ammophila sabulosa and Ammophila pubescens - show contrasting behaviours related to how they care for their brood. One is mass provisioning, meaning that they feed the brood enough for their development and, the other is progressive provisioning, in which the mother feeds the brood for as long as it is developing. This indicates that one species has an extended period of parental care, which can be important for more complex behaviours to occur. Nowadays, there are genomic techniques to obtain genomes for any species, bringing the possibility of studying behaviour at the level of genes, and to understand how and why some species behave in a certain way. The overall objective of WASSUP was to understand the ancestral origins of pre-social behaviour (solitary behaviour) and determine the adaptations that could give rise to more complex, social behaviours. Studying ancestral origins of pre-social behaviour is important for society in general, because can help us to understand how cooperation evolved in other animal taxa, including in humans. This project also combined different methodologies, including the study of behaviour in a classical way in the field, recording changes in morphology by analysing images from electron microscopy and sophisticated molecular approaches, including genome sequencing and transcriptome analyses.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Social insects exemplify a major transition in evolution and show how cooperative organisms can reach higher levels of social organization. To gain a deeper understanding of the molecular regulation that drives the behavioural transitions in wasps, I will perform WASSUP. This project will integrate proximate mechanisms to the evolution of wasp sociality, by studying the ancestral origins of pre-social behaviour, and its importance at the very early stages of sociality. The molecular mechanisms underpinning the nest cycles in solitary species provide mechanistic basis for the evolution of division of labour in social wasps and progressive provisioning as a preadaptation to maternal care. WASSUP will focus in Ammophila solitary wasps to explore this molecular basis of behavioural and evolutionary transitions. Based on the genome, transcriptome, and chemosensory machinery basis of key species, I will compare genomic traits of mass and progressive provisioning and test the hypothesis that progressive provisioning is a precursor to maternal care. Specifically, I predict that the molecular processes specific to progressive provisioning (as opposed to mass provisioning) will also be important in regulating foraging behaviour in eusocial species, especially those that represent the first stages of social evolution (e.g. Polistes). I will test functionality of any key genes regulating the provisioning behaviours using RNAi. WASSUP will help to understand the ancestral origins of pre-social behaviour and how division of labour evolved and how is regulated. Prof. Sumner’s lab provides expertise and training in the model species, molecular biology methods and bioinformatics; I bring to this my expertise in chemical, behavioural ecology, and evolution of wasps. With MSCA fellowship, I will benefit from the complementary expertise from the lab. This fellowship will be instrumental in equipping me to be a world-class scientist and develop my own independent line of research.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON · LondonКоординаторОбединеното кралство