Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-571
Authors: Alleman, Austin
Feldmeyer, Barbara
Foitzik, Susanne
Title: Comparative analyses of co-evolving host-parasite associations reveal unique gene expression patterns underlying slavemaker raiding and host defensive phenotypes
Online publication date: 12-Apr-2018
Year of first publication: 2018
Language: english
Abstract: The transition to parasitism is a drastic shift in lifestyle, involving rapid changes in gene structure, function, and expression. After the establishment of antagonistic relationships, parasites and hosts co-evolve through reciprocal adaptations, often resulting in evolutionary arms-races. Repeated evolution of social parasitism and slavery among Temnothorax ants allows us to examine those gene expression patterns that characterize slavemaker raiding and reciprocal host defensive phenotypes. Previous behavioural studies have established that raiding strategies between Temnothorax slavemakers diverge, while host defense portfolios shift similarly under parasite pressure. We are the first to confirm this at the molecular level, revealing that slavemaking species exhibit a wider variety of genes with species-specific patterns of expression within their raiding phenotypes, whereas expression similarity is commonly found during the non-raiding phenotype. Host species response to slavemaker aggression, however, is indicated by strong changes in the expression of a relatively few number genes. Additionally, the expression of individual genes such as Acyl-CoA-Delta(11) desaturase and Trypsin-7 is strongly associated with the raiding phenotype of all three slavemaking species. Here, we provide novel insight into the gene expression patterns associated with raiding and nest defense behavior in Temnothorax ants, suggesting lineage-specific evolutionary patterns among both slavemakers and hosts.
DDC: 570 Biowissenschaften
570 Life sciences
Institution: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Department: FB 10 Biologie
Place: Mainz
ROR: https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI: http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-571
Version: Published version
Publication type: Zeitschriftenaufsatz
License: CC BY
Information on rights of use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Journal: Scientific reports
8
Pages or article number: Art. 1951
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature
Publisher place: London
Issue date: 2018
ISSN: 2045-2322
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20262-y
Publisher DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-20262-y
Appears in collections:JGU-Publikationen

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