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Peer-reviewedCC BYProceedings. Biological sciences

Developmental bias of body size and caste by the fire ant social supergene.

  • Haolin Zeng1,2
  • Corrie E Eidson1
  • D Alekzandre Cushman1
  • Mathews Nascimento1,2
  • Beryl M Jones3
  • Brendan G Hunt1
  1. 1Department of Entomology , University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
  2. 2Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia , Athens, GA, USA.
  3. 3Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky , Lexington, KY, USA.
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Abstract

Supergenes are clusters of linked genes that drive complex phenotypic divergence. In the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, a supergene determines polymorphic social organization, and its derived (b) haplotype is over-represented among large workers and gynes relative to the ancestral (B) haplotype, acting as a selfish genetic element. We tested whether this caste bias reflects altered juvenile hormone (JH) mediated growth by treating colonies with a JH analogue. We show that BB and Bb pupae reach similar maximal sizes and exhibit a comparable JH-mediated growth response despite consistent Bb over-representation in the upper size classes. We also used developmental gene expression data from another ant to reveal significantly enriched overlap between genes with differential expression by supergene genotype and orthologues with differential expression between gyne- and worker-destined larvae. This overlap could be shaped in part by observed cis-regulatory evolution of the supergene. Overall, our results are consistent with incompletely penetrant effects of a supergene on developmental trajectories linked to size-based caste allocation in a highly social insect.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{zeng2026developmental,
  title = {{Developmental bias of body size and caste by the fire ant social supergene.}},
  author = {Haolin Zeng and Corrie E Eidson and D Alekzandre Cushman and Mathews Nascimento and Beryl M Jones and Brendan G Hunt},
  journal = {Proceedings. Biological sciences},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1098/rspb.2026.1338},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42838556},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Developmental bias of body size and caste by the fire ant social supergene.
AU  - Haolin Zeng
AU  - Corrie E Eidson
AU  - D Alekzandre Cushman
AU  - Mathews Nascimento
AU  - Beryl M Jones
AU  - Brendan G Hunt
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/01
JO  - Proceedings. Biological sciences
DO  - 10.1098/rspb.2026.1338
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42838556
AB  - Supergenes are clusters of linked genes that drive complex phenotypic divergence. In the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, a supergene determines polymorphic social organization, and its derived (b) haplotype is over-represented among large workers and gynes relative to the ancestral (B) haplotype, acting as a selfish genetic element. We tested whether this caste bias reflects altered juvenile hormone (JH) mediated growth by treating colonies with a JH analogue. We show that BB and Bb pupae reach similar maximal sizes and exhibit a comparable JH-mediated growth response despite consistent Bb over-representation in the upper size classes. We also used developmental gene expression data from another ant to reveal significantly enriched overlap between genes with differential expression by supergene genotype and orthologues with differential expression between gyne- and worker-destined larvae. This overlap could be shaped in part by observed cis-regulatory evolution of the supergene. Overall, our results are consistent with incompletely penetrant effects of a supergene on developmental trajectories linked to size-based caste allocation in a highly social insect.
SN  - 0962-8452
SN  - 1471-2954
ER  -