Social evolution. Genomic signatures of evolutionary transitions from solitary to group living
- PMID: 25977371
- PMCID: PMC5471836
- DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa4788
Social evolution. Genomic signatures of evolutionary transitions from solitary to group living
Abstract
The evolution of eusociality is one of the major transitions in evolution, but the underlying genomic changes are unknown. We compared the genomes of 10 bee species that vary in social complexity, representing multiple independent transitions in social evolution, and report three major findings. First, many important genes show evidence of neutral evolution as a consequence of relaxed selection with increasing social complexity. Second, there is no single road map to eusociality; independent evolutionary transitions in sociality have independent genetic underpinnings. Third, though clearly independent in detail, these transitions do have similar general features, including an increase in constrained protein evolution accompanied by increases in the potential for gene regulation and decreases in diversity and abundance of transposable elements. Eusociality may arise through different mechanisms each time, but would likely always involve an increase in the complexity of gene networks.
Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Figures


Similar articles
-
Rate variation in the evolution of non-coding DNA associated with social evolution in bees.Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2019 Jul 22;374(1777):20180247. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0247. Epub 2019 Jun 3. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2019. PMID: 31154980 Free PMC article.
-
Sociality sculpts similar patterns of molecular evolution in two independently evolved lineages of eusocial bees.Commun Biol. 2021 Feb 26;4(1):253. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-01770-6. Commun Biol. 2021. PMID: 33637860 Free PMC article.
-
Phylogeny of the carpenter bees (Apidae: Xylocopinae) highlights repeated evolution of sociality.Biol Lett. 2023 Aug;19(8):20230252. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0252. Epub 2023 Aug 30. Biol Lett. 2023. PMID: 37643643 Free PMC article.
-
Molecular Evolution of Insect Sociality: An Eco-Evo-Devo Perspective.Annu Rev Entomol. 2017 Jan 31;62:419-442. doi: 10.1146/annurev-ento-031616-035601. Epub 2016 Nov 28. Annu Rev Entomol. 2017. PMID: 27912247 Review.
-
Genomic sources of phenotypic novelty in the evolution of eusociality in insects.Curr Opin Insect Sci. 2016 Feb;13:24-32. doi: 10.1016/j.cois.2015.10.009. Epub 2015 Nov 12. Curr Opin Insect Sci. 2016. PMID: 27436550 Review.
Cited by
-
Evolution of Social Insect Polyphenism Facilitated by the Sex Differentiation Cascade.PLoS Genet. 2016 Mar 31;12(3):e1005952. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005952. eCollection 2016 Mar. PLoS Genet. 2016. PMID: 27031240 Free PMC article.
-
Transcriptomic Signatures of Ageing Vary in Solitary and Social Forms of an Orchid Bee.Genome Biol Evol. 2021 Jun 8;13(6):evab075. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evab075. Genome Biol Evol. 2021. PMID: 33914875 Free PMC article.
-
A genetic toolkit underlying the queen phenotype in termites with totipotent workers.Sci Rep. 2024 Jan 26;14(1):2214. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-51772-7. Sci Rep. 2024. PMID: 38278833 Free PMC article.
-
Differential Gene Expression Correlates with Behavioural Polymorphism during Collective Behaviour in Cockroaches.Animals (Basel). 2022 Sep 8;12(18):2354. doi: 10.3390/ani12182354. Animals (Basel). 2022. PMID: 36139214 Free PMC article.
-
Clonal raider ant brain transcriptomics identifies candidate molecular mechanisms for reproductive division of labor.BMC Biol. 2018 Aug 13;16(1):89. doi: 10.1186/s12915-018-0558-8. BMC Biol. 2018. PMID: 30103762 Free PMC article.
References
-
- Maynard Smith J, Szathmáry E. The Major Transitions in Evolution. Oxford Univ. Press; Oxford, UK: 1995.
-
- Michener CD. The Social Behavior of the Bees. Harvard Univ. Press; Cambridge, MA: 1974.
-
- Hölldobler H, Wilson EO. The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance and Strangeness of Insect Societies. Norton; New York: 2009.
-
- Johnson BR, Linksvayer TA. Q Rev Biol. 2010;85:57–79. - PubMed
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
Associated data
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources