Events Detail

Speaker:
Tim Linksvayer, Department of Biology, U Penn

Hypotheses for the genetic basis and evolution of complex social behavior often focus on the notion of highly conserved genetic "toolkits" or "groundplans". However, evaluating the relative importance of conserved genes to social behavior, and more broadly, elucidating the general genetic and evolutionary basis of social behavior and social complexity has proven difficult. I will describe a series of recent studies in my lab seeking to characterize in an unbiased way the genetic basis and evolution of ant and honey bee societies. Specifically, I will discuss studies seeking to elucidate the proportion of shared versus distinct genes underlying the transcriptomic basis of caste in pharaoh ants and honey bees, the transcriptomic basis and evolution of the nurse-larval social interactome regulating larval development, and the genetic basis and fitness consequences of variation in pharaoh ant collective behavior.

Tim Linksvayer, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Biology