A depauperate immune repertoire precedes evolution of sociality in bees
Author
Barribeau, Seth M.; Sadd, Ben M.; du Plessis, Louis; Brown, Mark J. F.; Buechel, Severine D.; Cappelle, Kaat; Carolan, James C.; Christiaens, Olivier; Colgan, Thomas J.; Erler, Silvio; Evans, Jay D.; Helbing, Sophie; Karaus, Elke; Lattorff, H. M. G.; Marxer, Monika; Meeus, Ivan; Näpflin, Kathrin; Niu, Jinzhi; Schmid-Hempel, Regula; Smagghe, Guy; Waterhouse, Robert M.; Yu, Na; Zdobnov, Evgeny M.; Schmid-Hempel, Paul
Abstract
Background
Sociality has many rewards, but can also be dangerous, as high population density and low genetic diversity, common in social insects, is ideal for parasite transmission. Despite this risk, honeybees and other sequenced social insects have far fewer canonical immune genes relative to solitary insects. Social protection from infection, including behavioral responses, may explain this depauperate immune repertoire. Here, based on full genome sequences, we describe the immune repertoire of two ecologically and commercially important bumblebee species that diverged approximately 18 million years ago, the North American Bombus impatiens and European Bombus terrestris.
Results
We find that the immune systems of these bumblebees, two species of honeybee, and a solitary leafcutting bee, are strikingly similar. Transcriptional assays confirm the expression of many of these genes in an immunological context and more strongly in young queens than males, affirming Bateman’s principle of greater investment in female immunity. We find evidence of positive selection in genes encoding antiviral responses, components of the Toll and JAK/STAT pathways, and serine protease inhibitors in both social and solitary bees. Finally, we detect many genes across pathways that differ in selection between bumblebees and honeybees, or between the social and solitary clades.
Conclusions
The similarity in immune complement across a gradient of sociality suggests that a reduced immune repertoire predates the evolution of sociality in bees. The differences in selection on immune genes likely reflect divergent pressures exerted by parasites across social contexts.
Date
2015-04-24
Citation:
APA:
Barribeau, Seth M., & Sadd, Ben M., & du Plessis, Louis, & Brown, Mark J. F., & Buechel, Severine D., & Cappelle, Kaat, & Carolan, James C., & Christiaens, Olivier, & Colgan, Thomas J., & Erler, Silvio, & Evans, Jay D., & Helbing, Sophie, & Karaus, Elke, & Lattorff, H. M. G., & Marxer, Monika, & Meeus, Ivan, & Näpflin, Kathrin, & Niu, Jinzhi, & Schmid-Hempel, Regula, & Smagghe, Guy, & Waterhouse, Robert M., & Yu, Na, & Zdobnov, Evgeny M., & Schmid-Hempel, Paul. (April 2015).
A depauperate immune repertoire precedes evolution of sociality in bees.
Genome Biology. 2015 Apr 24,
(),
-
. Retrieved from
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/5210
MLA:
Barribeau, Seth M., and Sadd, Ben M., and du Plessis, Louis, and Brown, Mark J. F., and Buechel, Severine D., and Cappelle, Kaat, and Carolan, James C., and Christiaens, Olivier, and Colgan, Thomas J., and Erler, Silvio, and Evans, Jay D., and Helbing, Sophie, and Karaus, Elke, and Lattorff, H. M. G., and Marxer, Monika, and Meeus, Ivan, and Näpflin, Kathrin, and Niu, Jinzhi, and Schmid-Hempel, Regula, and Smagghe, Guy, and Waterhouse, Robert M., and Yu, Na, and Zdobnov, Evgeny M., and Schmid-Hempel, Paul.
"A depauperate immune repertoire precedes evolution of sociality in bees". Genome Biology. 2015 Apr 24.
. (),
April 2015.
May 31, 2023.
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/5210.
Chicago:
Barribeau, Seth M. and Sadd, Ben M. and du Plessis, Louis and Brown, Mark J. F. and Buechel, Severine D. and Cappelle, Kaat and Carolan, James C. and Christiaens, Olivier and Colgan, Thomas J. and Erler, Silvio and Evans, Jay D. and Helbing, Sophie and Karaus, Elke and Lattorff, H. M. G. and Marxer, Monika and Meeus, Ivan and Näpflin, Kathrin and Niu, Jinzhi and Schmid-Hempel, Regula and Smagghe, Guy and Waterhouse, Robert M. and Yu, Na and Zdobnov, Evgeny M. and Schmid-Hempel, Paul,
"A depauperate immune repertoire precedes evolution of sociality in bees," Genome Biology. 2015 Apr 24 , no.
(April 2015),
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/5210 (accessed
May 31, 2023).
AMA:
Barribeau, Seth M., Sadd, Ben M., du Plessis, Louis, Brown, Mark J. F., Buechel, Severine D., Cappelle, Kaat, Carolan, James C., Christiaens, Olivier, Colgan, Thomas J., Erler, Silvio, Evans, Jay D., Helbing, Sophie, Karaus, Elke, Lattorff, H. M. G., Marxer, Monika, Meeus, Ivan, Näpflin, Kathrin, Niu, Jinzhi, Schmid-Hempel, Regula, Smagghe, Guy, Waterhouse, Robert M., Yu, Na, Zdobnov, Evgeny M., Schmid-Hempel, Paul.
A depauperate immune repertoire precedes evolution of sociality in bees. Genome Biology. 2015 Apr 24.
April 2015;
():
.
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/5210. Accessed
May 31, 2023.
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