ArticleNature communications2021
The molecular basis of socially mediated phenotypic plasticity in a eusocial paper wasp.
Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Co-expression Gene Networks and Machine-learning Algorithms Unveil a Core Genetic Toolkit for Reproductive Division of Labour in Rudimentary Insect Societies.Genome biology and evolution · 2023Pooled it
- Regulation of reproductive and behavioral plasticity in social insects.Current opinion in insect science · 2026Review
- Genome Evolution in Social Insects.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Review
- Gene Expression and Alternative Splicing Regulate Phenotypic Plasticity of a Social Wasp.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Unmated Queens Show Worker-Like Behaviour and Gene Expression in Polygynous Colonies of the Ant Stigmatomma pallipes.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- The Evolutionary and Ecological Consequences of Cooperation.The American naturalist · 2026Review
- Review
- Localized Tissue-Specific Gene Expression and Gene Duplications are Important Sources of Social Morph Differences in a Social Bumblebee.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Paper wasps: A model clade for social cognition.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2024Article
- Molecular signatures of alternative reproductive strategies in a facultatively social hover wasp.Molecular ecology · 2024Article
- Transcriptomic responses to location learning by honeybee dancers are partly mirrored in the brains of dance-followers.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Social administration of juvenile hormone to larvae increases body size and nutritional needs for pupation.Royal Society open science · 2023Article
- Histone acetyltransferases and external demands influence task switching inBiology letters · 2023Article
- Modeling the influence of phenotypic plasticity on maize hybrid performance.Plant communications · 2023Article
- Putting hornets on the genomic map.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Molecular patterns and processes in evolving sociality: lessons from insects.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
- Social complexity, life-history and lineage influence the molecular basis of castes in vespid wasps.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Anemonefishes: A model system for evolutionary genomics.F1000Research · 2023Review
- A complete absence of indirect genetic effects on brain gene expression in a highly social context.Molecular ecology · 2022Article
- Self-organization of plasticity and specialization in a primitively social insect.Cell systems · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity, the ability to produce multiple phenotypes from a single genotype, represents an excellent model with which to examine the relationship between gene expression and phenotypes. Analyses of the molecular foundations of phenotypic plasticity are challenging, however, especially in the case of complex social phenotypes. Here we apply a machine learning approach to tackle this challenge by analyzing individual-level gene expression profiles of Polistes dominula paper wasps following the loss of a queen. We find that caste-associated gene expression profiles respond strongly to queen loss, and that this change is partly explained by attributes such as age but occurs even in individuals that appear phenotypically unaffected. These results demonstrate that large changes in gene expression may occur in the absence of outwardly detectable phenotypic changes, resulting here in a socially mediated de-differentiation of individuals at the transcriptomic level but not at the levels of ovarian development or behavior.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.