Finally, our assemblies reveal that genomic rearrangements in bees mostly occur within rather than between chromosomes. This is similar to flies but different from mammals. 7/n
We show for the first time that JH is present in the insect brain 🧠, suggesting a new model where JH levels are regulated in a tissue-specific manner to create new associations between reproduction and behavior essential to the emergence of eusociality. 5/n
We searched for complementary signatures of positive selection when eusociality arises and relaxed selection when it’s lost. These changes are predicted to provide benefits when eusociality is gained but incur costs when social behaviors are lost. 3/n
In sweat bees, eusociality has evolved 2x independently and was also lost >12 times. We generated high-quality, chromosome-level assemblies for 17 sweat bees spanning 2 gains and 6 losses, including solitary, eusocial, and socially-flexible species. 2/n
Science Twitter, we need your help! We are trying to write a figure legend for these colors, and we are AT WAR over what to call them. #TheFigure
Running a field course @mpalalive in Kenya with AyrolesLab using @nanopore to teach students how to use genomics to study a range of ecological questions. Extra thanks to our molecular guru, Jethary Rader, and TA extraordinaire, @merlijnstaps
@Princeton #EEB #GenomicsInTheWild
We got an awesome surprise in the mail today! Thanks @sanrehan for sharing such a great resource. It's perfectly sized for the field, too!
Excited to share our new preprint exploring regulatory evolution in 11 bee genomes! We describe the landscape of conserved, non-coding sequences across bees and identify loci where social behavior and evolutionary rates are correlated. biorxiv.org/content/early/20…
Our paper on the genetic differences between social and solitary forms of the same bee species is finally out! rdcu.be/9wlk.
Thanks very much to @epennisi @sciencemagazine for the write up!
sciencemag.org/news/2018/10/…
