Revisiting complex behaviors in bees: genetic-molecular and evolutionary approaches

Abstract

Our research group has been working with native bees, or those with a wide geographic range in Brazil, for more than 25 years. We have generated solid data on the population genetics and phylogeography of several species of Meliponini and Bombini. Over the last 10 years we have been using genomic and bioinformatics approaches with the aim of investigating questions about bee behavior in an unprecedented way. This endeavor of ours has been very fruitful, both in terms of publications and collaborations and also in the training of young scientists capable of using these new tools. This project aims to continue our research into parasitism and dormancy behaviors. Regarding parasitism behaviors (cleptoparasitism, social parasitism and cleptobiosis), we will use structural and functional genomics approaches to prospect genes and their expression levels, especially chemosensory and CYP genes, to understand the function, protein structure and the evolution of these gene families. The chosen pairs of parasite/host species present different levels of social organization (solitary, primitively eusocial and highly eusocial). Dormancy behavior will be studied in terms of global gene expression (functional genomics) in three species of Meliponini bees. The dormancy phenotype, common in the three species, is apparently induced by different environmental stimuli. All projects are ongoing and are being led by two PhD students (Fapesp scholarship holders), a recent PhD candidate for a Post-Doc scholarship from Fapesp and three IC students. Two international collaborating researchers will participate in the project, Dr Natália de Souza Araujo (Université Libre de Bruxelles-Belgium) and Dr Priscila Karla Ferreira dos Santos (University of Utah-USA); Dr Tiago Francoy from EACH-USP and Dr Airton Torres Carvalho from UFERSA (RN) and Geyzilane Lima da Costa e Milena Emily da Silva Lima undergraduate students from his group. (AU)