2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
The mechanism of phenotypic evolution mediated by Hsp90 in ants
| Project/Area Number |
16K18622
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Ecology/Environment
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| Research Institution | Tamagawa University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
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| Keywords | カースト進化 / カドフシアリ / 無翅女王 / Hsp90 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Phenotypic evolution can be facilitated by the Hsp90-mediated mechanism. In the mechanism, genetic mutations accumulated by Hsp90 are released under environmental perturbations, and then an adaptive mutant phenotype can be selected. In this study, this Hsp90-mediated mechanism was examined for the caste evolution in a queen-polymorphic ant Myrmecina nipponica. In this species, ergatoid queens are distributed only in cold habitats, suggesting that this caste would be secondarily evolved through cold adaptation. Expression of hsp90 was induced at a lower level in progenies of ergatoid queen than in those of alate queen (ancestral), suggesting that accumulated mutations are likely to be released in the ergatoid queen's colonies. Then, to examine the genetic differences between ergatoid and alate queens, RAD-seq was performed. It is expected that analyses of RAD-seq data allow us to examine the adaptive genetic mutations fixed through the evolution of ergatoid queens.
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| Free Research Field |
生態進化発生学，昆虫発生学
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