Journal
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Volume 31, Issue 7, Pages 1661-1685Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msu141
Keywords
comparative genomics; sociality; d(N); d(S); aging; lifespan; immunity; neurogenesis; olfactory receptors; metabolism; Hymenoptera; bees; Drosophila
Funding
- Swiss NSF
- Swiss NSF [PBLAP3-134342, 31003A 133011/1]
- Swiss Platform for High-Performance and High-Productivity Computing (HP2C)
- project UNIL.5/SMSCG as part of the AAA/SWITCH
- Swiss NSF ProDoc grant [PDFMP3_130309]
- ERC
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [PBLAP3-134342, PDFMP3_130309] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The evolution of ants is marked by remarkable adaptations that allowed the development of very complex social systems. To identify how ant-specific adaptations are associated with patterns of molecular evolution, we searched for signs of positive selection on amino-acid changes in proteins. We identified 24 functional categories of genes which were enriched for positively selected genes in the ant lineage. We also reanalyzed genome-wide data sets in bees and flies with the same methodology to check whether positive selection was specific to ants or also present in other insects. Notably, genes implicated in immunity were enriched for positively selected genes in the three lineages, ruling out the hypothesis that the evolution of hygienic behaviors in social insects caused a major relaxation of selective pressure on immune genes. Our scan also indicated that genes implicated in neurogenesis and olfaction started to undergo increased positive selection before the evolution of sociality in Hymenoptera. Finally, the comparison between these three lineages allowed us to pinpoint molecular evolution patterns that were specific to the ant lineage. In particular, there was ant-specific recurrent positive selection on genes with mitochondrial functions, suggesting that mitochondrial activity was improved during the evolution of this lineage. This might have been an important step toward the evolution of extreme lifespan that is a hallmark of ants.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available