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Differential gene expression is not required for facultative sex allocation: a transcriptome analysis of brain tissue in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis

Whole-transcriptome technologies have been widely used in behavioural genetics to identify genes associated with the performance of a behaviour and provide clues to its mechanistic basis. Here, we consider the genetic basis of sex allocation behaviour in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis. Fema...

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Autores principales: Cook, Nicola, Boulton, Rebecca A., Green, Jade, Trivedi, Urmi, Tauber, Eran, Pannebakker, Bart A., Ritchie, Michael G., Shuker, David M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society Publishing 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5830769/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29515880
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171718
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author Cook, Nicola
Boulton, Rebecca A.
Green, Jade
Trivedi, Urmi
Tauber, Eran
Pannebakker, Bart A.
Ritchie, Michael G.
Shuker, David M.
author_facet Cook, Nicola
Boulton, Rebecca A.
Green, Jade
Trivedi, Urmi
Tauber, Eran
Pannebakker, Bart A.
Ritchie, Michael G.
Shuker, David M.
author_sort Cook, Nicola
collection PubMed
description Whole-transcriptome technologies have been widely used in behavioural genetics to identify genes associated with the performance of a behaviour and provide clues to its mechanistic basis. Here, we consider the genetic basis of sex allocation behaviour in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis. Female Nasonia facultatively vary their offspring sex ratio in line with Hamilton's theory of local mate competition (LMC). A single female or ‘foundress’ laying eggs on a patch will lay just enough sons to fertilize her daughters. As the number of ‘foundresses’ laying eggs on a patch increases (and LMC declines), females produce increasingly male-biased sex ratios. Phenotypic studies have revealed the cues females use to estimate the level of LMC their sons will experience, but our understanding of the genetics underlying sex allocation is limited. Here, we exposed females to three foundress number conditions, i.e. three LMC conditions, and allowed them to oviposit. mRNA was extracted from only the heads of these females to target the brain tissue. The subsequent RNA-seq experiment confirmed that differential gene expression is not associated with the response to sex allocation cues and that we must instead turn to the underlying neuroscience to reveal the underpinnings of this impressive behavioural plasticity.
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spelling pubmed-58307692018-03-07 Differential gene expression is not required for facultative sex allocation: a transcriptome analysis of brain tissue in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis Cook, Nicola Boulton, Rebecca A. Green, Jade Trivedi, Urmi Tauber, Eran Pannebakker, Bart A. Ritchie, Michael G. Shuker, David M. R Soc Open Sci Biology (Whole Organism) Whole-transcriptome technologies have been widely used in behavioural genetics to identify genes associated with the performance of a behaviour and provide clues to its mechanistic basis. Here, we consider the genetic basis of sex allocation behaviour in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis. Female Nasonia facultatively vary their offspring sex ratio in line with Hamilton's theory of local mate competition (LMC). A single female or ‘foundress’ laying eggs on a patch will lay just enough sons to fertilize her daughters. As the number of ‘foundresses’ laying eggs on a patch increases (and LMC declines), females produce increasingly male-biased sex ratios. Phenotypic studies have revealed the cues females use to estimate the level of LMC their sons will experience, but our understanding of the genetics underlying sex allocation is limited. Here, we exposed females to three foundress number conditions, i.e. three LMC conditions, and allowed them to oviposit. mRNA was extracted from only the heads of these females to target the brain tissue. The subsequent RNA-seq experiment confirmed that differential gene expression is not associated with the response to sex allocation cues and that we must instead turn to the underlying neuroscience to reveal the underpinnings of this impressive behavioural plasticity. The Royal Society Publishing 2018-02-21 /pmc/articles/PMC5830769/ /pubmed/29515880 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171718 Text en © 2018 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Biology (Whole Organism)
Cook, Nicola
Boulton, Rebecca A.
Green, Jade
Trivedi, Urmi
Tauber, Eran
Pannebakker, Bart A.
Ritchie, Michael G.
Shuker, David M.
Differential gene expression is not required for facultative sex allocation: a transcriptome analysis of brain tissue in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis
title Differential gene expression is not required for facultative sex allocation: a transcriptome analysis of brain tissue in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis
title_full Differential gene expression is not required for facultative sex allocation: a transcriptome analysis of brain tissue in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis
title_fullStr Differential gene expression is not required for facultative sex allocation: a transcriptome analysis of brain tissue in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis
title_full_unstemmed Differential gene expression is not required for facultative sex allocation: a transcriptome analysis of brain tissue in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis
title_short Differential gene expression is not required for facultative sex allocation: a transcriptome analysis of brain tissue in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis
title_sort differential gene expression is not required for facultative sex allocation: a transcriptome analysis of brain tissue in the parasitoid wasp nasonia vitripennis
topic Biology (Whole Organism)
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5830769/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29515880
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171718
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