Allele specific expression in worker reproduction genes in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris

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1 Department of Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
2 Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.1094v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Animal Behavior, Entomology, Evolutionary Studies, Genetics, Zoology
Keywords
Social insect, Hymenoptera, Ecdysone, Epigenetics
Copyright
© 2015 Amarasinghe et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Amarasinghe HE, Toghill BJ, Nathanael D, Mallon EB. 2015. Allele specific expression in worker reproduction genes in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. PeerJ PrePrints 3:e1094v1

Abstract

Methylation has previously been associated with allele specific expression in ants. Recently, we found methylation is important in worker reproduction in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Here we searched for allele specific expression in twelve genes associated with worker reproduction in bees. We found allele specific expression in Ecdysone 20 monooxygenase and IMP-L2-like. Although we were unable to confirm a genetic or epigenetic cause for this allele specific expression, the expression patterns of the two genes match those predicted for imprinted genes.

Author Comment

This is a revised version of the manuscript which has been submitted to PeerJ.

Supplemental Information

Table S1. Details of primers sets used in PCR reactions

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.1094v1/supp-1

Table S2. Sequences of loci for which there was heterozygote workers

Snps are in red.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.1094v1/supp-2