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Developmental Evolution in Social Insects: Regulatory Networks from Genes to Societies
Author(s) -
LINKSVAYER TIMOTHY A.,
FEWELL JENNIFER H.,
GADAU JÜRGEN,
LAUBICHLER MANFRED D.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of experimental zoology part b: molecular and developmental evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1552-5015
pISSN - 1552-5007
DOI - 10.1002/jez.b.22001
Subject(s) - biology , social evolution , evolutionary biology , division of labour , gene regulatory network , evolutionary developmental biology , insect , phenotype , gene , genetics , ecology , political science , gene expression , law
The evolution and development of complex phenotypes in social insect colonies, such as queen–worker dimorphism or division of labor, can, in our opinion, only be fully understood within an expanded mechanistic framework of Developmental Evolution . Conversely, social insects offer a fertile research area in which fundamental questions of Developmental Evolution can be addressed empirically. We review the concept of gene regulatory networks ( GRN s) that aims to fully describe the battery of interacting genomic modules that are differentially expressed during the development of individual organisms. We discuss how distinct types of network models have been used to study different levels of biological organization in social insects, from GRN s to social networks. We propose that these hierarchical networks spanning different organizational levels from genes to societies should be integrated and incorporated into full GRN models to elucidate the evolutionary and developmental mechanisms underlying social insect phenotypes. Finally, we discuss prospects and approaches to achieve such an integration. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 318:159–169, 2012 . © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.