A molecular toolkit for superorganisms. Issue 9 (September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sieriebriennikov, Bogdan; Reinberg, Danny; Desplan, Claude
• Is Part Of: Trends in genetics. Volume 37:Issue 9(2021)
• Page Start: 846
• Page End: 859
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Subjects: ants -- single-cell sequencing -- epigenetics -- RNAi -- CRISPR -- transgenesis; Genetics -- Periodicals; 576.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.05.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0168-9525

Abstract

Abstract : Social insects, such as ants, bees, wasps, and termites, draw biologists' attention due to their distinctive lifestyles. As experimental systems, they provide unique opportunities to study organismal differentiation, division of labor, longevity, and the evolution of development. Ants are particularly attractive because several ant species can be propagated in the laboratory. However, the same lifestyle that makes social insects interesting also hampers the use of molecular genetic techniques. Here, we summarize the efforts of the ant research community to surmount these hurdles and obtain novel mechanistic insight into the biology of social insects. We review current approaches and propose novel ones involving genomics, transcriptomics, chromatin and DNA methylation profiling, RNA interference (RNAi), and genome editing in ants and discuss future experimental strategies. Highlights: While many social insects remain genetically intractable, several ant species possess features which enable their propagation in the laboratory and allow mechanistic, molecular genetic research on caste-specific behaviors and physiology, developmental plasticity, and aging. In ants and other non-model organisms, gene expression studies have become the major source of candidate genes. The recent boom in single-cell transcriptomics complemented by chromatin-based techniques further increase the power of this approach to discover regulators of various biological processes. Historically, experimental validation of the candidate genes in ants has been done by RNAi injections. Recently, CRISPR-Cas9 mutagenesis was performed. Next, transgenic technology will allow precise genetic manipulation and enable the use of other approaches, such as imaging of neural activity.