摘要
真社会性昆虫,如膜翅目(Hymenoptera)的蜜蜂、蚂蚁和黄蜂,以及蜚蠊目(Blattodea)的白蚁,尽管在一个群体中遗传背景和遗传基础一致,但它们在形态、行为及生活史上具有显著的多样性。大多数真社会性昆虫表现出不同的级型结构和寿命分化,在这些结构中王后往往比职虫的寿命更长,且繁殖能力仅由一个或几个王后拥有,而其他群体成员只能充当职虫。然而,在某些物种中,级型结构具有一定的可塑性,个体可以根据特定的环境线索从一个级型或行为表型切换到另一个级型或行为表型。由于不同的级型之间通常有共同的遗传背景,因此真社会性昆虫群体内的多样性很大程度上是由个体之间的基因转录差异造成的。这就意味着以修饰基因表达而不改变基因序列本身为特征的表观遗传机制可能在真社会性昆虫中发挥着重要作用。已有的证据表明,DNA/RNA甲基化、组蛋白翻译后修饰和非编码RNA等表观遗传调控机制在级型结构、寿命分化和衰老等多个方面影响真社会性昆虫。本文对这些表观遗传调控机制及其在昆虫中不同作用的研究进展进行了综述,以加深对真社会性昆虫起源及其行为演化的理解和认识。未来表观遗传调控机制可在抗衰老药物的研发、衰老相关疾病的治疗、减缓生物体的衰老进程等方面有潜在的应用价值。
Eusocial insects,such as bees,ants and wasps of the Hymenoptera and termites of the Blattodea,have significant diversity in morphology,behavior and life cycle,although their genetic background and genetic basis are consistent in a population.Most eusocial insects show different caste structure and life span differentiation.In these structure,queens tend to have a longer life span than workers,and their reproductive capacity is only owned by one queen or several queens,while the other members of the group can only act as workers.However,in some species,the caste structure has certain plasticity,and individuals can switch from one caste or behavioral phenotype to another according to specific environmental clues.Due to the common genetic background between different castes,the diversity of eusocial insect populations is largely caused by the gene transcriptional differences between individuals.This means that epigenetic mechanisms characterized by modifying gene expression without changing the gene sequence may play an important role in eusocial insects.Evidence had shown that epigenetic regulatory mechanisms such as DNA methylation or RNA methylation,histone post-translation modification and non-coding RNA had been proven to affect eusocial insects in many aspects,such as caste structure,longevity differentiation and aging.In this article,we reviewed the research progress of these epigenetic regulatory mechanisms and their different roles in insects,so as to deepen the understanding and cognitive degree of the origin and behavior evolution of eusocial insects.In the future,epigenetic regulatory mechanisms have potential application value in the research and development of anti-aging drugs,treatment of aging-related diseases,and slowing down the aging process of organisms.
作者
马强
党晓群
马振刚
周泽扬
MA Qiang;DANG Xiao-Qun;MA Zhen-Gang;ZHOU Ze-Yang(Key Laboratory of Conservation and Utilization of Pollinator Insects of the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River,Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs,Chongqing Normal University,Chongqing 401331,China;Department of Basic Medicine,Chongqing Three Gorges Medical College,Chongqing 404120,China;Chongqing Key Laboratory of Vector Insects,Chongqing Normal University,Chongqing 401331,China)
出处
《昆虫学报》
CAS
CSCD
北大核心
2023年第7期969-977,共9页
Acta Entomologica Sinica
基金
重庆市教委科学技术项目(KJQN202100543,KJQN202000521)
国家现代蜂产业技术体系建设专项(CARS-44-KXJ21)。
关键词
表观遗传学
真社会性昆虫
级型结构
寿命分化
衰老
Epigenetics
eusocial insect
caste structure
longevity differentiation
aging
