10.5061/DRYAD.HV500
Roy-Zokan, Eileen M.
University of Georgia
Cunningham, Christopher B.
University of Georgia
Hebb, Lauren E.
University of Georgia
McKinney, Elizabeth C.
University of Georgia
Moore, Allen J.
University of Georgia
Data from: Vitellogenin and vitellogenin receptor gene expression is
associated with male and female parenting in a subsocial insect
Dryad
dataset
2015
Reproductive Ground Plan Hypothesis
qRT-PCR
burying beetle
Nicrophorus vespilloides
Vitellogenin
Ovarian Ground Plan Hypothesis
2015-05-12T16:24:16Z
2015-05-12T16:24:16Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0787
375170 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Complex social behaviour in Hymenoptera has been hypothesized to evolve by
co-opting reproductive pathways (the ovarian ground plan hypothesis, OGPH)
and gene networks (the reproductive ground plan hypothesis, RGPH). In
support of these hypotheses, in eusocial Hymenoptera where there is
reproductive division of labour, the yolk precursor protein vitellogenin
(Vg) influences the expression of worker social behaviour. We suggest that
co-opting genes involved in reproduction may occur more generally than
just in the evolution of eusociality; i.e. underlie earlier stages of
social evolution such as the evolution of parental care, given that
reproduction and parental care rarely overlap. We therefore examined
vitellogenin (vg) gene expression associated with parental care in the
subsocial beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We found a significant
reduction in the expression of vg and its receptor, vgr, in head tissue
during active parental care, and confirmed that the receptor is expressed
in the brains of both sexes. Ours is the first study to show that vgr is
expressed in the brain of a non-eusocial insect. Given the association
between behaviour and gene expression in both sexes, and the presence of
vitellogenin receptors in the brain, we suggest that Vg was co-opted early
in the evolution of sociality to have a regulatory function. This extends
the association of Vg in parenting to subsocial species and outside of the
Hymenoptera, and supports the hypothesis that the OGPH is general and that
heterochrony in gene expression is important in the evolution of social
behaviour and precedes subsequent evolutionary specialization of social
roles.
Female Vg1 qRTPCRDatafile containing qRT-PCR data on vg expression from
whole head samples, females, from 5 social conditions.Female Vg2
qRTPCRDatafile containing qRT-PCR data on vg2 expression from whole head
samples, females, from 5 social conditions.Male Vg1 qRTPCRDatafile
containing qRT-PCR data on vg1 expression from whole head samples, males,
from 5 social conditions.Male Vg2 qRTPCRDatafile containing qRT-PCR data
on vg2 expression from whole head samples, females, from 5 social
conditions.VgR male female Brain Head Comparevg receptor expression data,
qRT-PCR, from whole head samples and just brain samples, males and
females.VgR_FemaleHeads qRTPCRDatafile containing qRT-PCR data on vg
receptor expression from whole head samples, females, from 5 social
conditions.VgR_MaleHeads qRTPCRDatafile containing qRT-PCR data on vg
receptor expression from whole head samples, males, from 5 social
conditions.