Morphological and genomic shifts in mole-rat ‘queens’ increase fecundity but reduce skeletal integrity
Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: In some mammals and many social insects, highly cooperative societies are characterized by reproductive division of labor, in which breeders and nonbreeders become behaviorally and morphologically distinct. While differences in behavior and growth between breeders and nonbreeders have been extensively described, little is known of their molecular underpinnings. Here, we investigate the consequences of breeding for skeletal morphology and gene regulation in highly cooperative Damaraland mole-rats. By experimentally assigning breeding 'queen' status versus nonbreeder status to age-matched littermates, we confirm that queens experience vertebral growth that likely confers advantages to fecundity. However, they also upregulate bone resorption pathways and show reductions in femoral mass, which predicts increased vulnerability to fracture. Together, our results show that, as in eusocial insects, reproductive division of labor in mole-rats leads to gene regulatory rewiring and extensive morphological plasticity. However, in mole-rats, concentrated reproduction is also accompanied by costs to bone strength.
Source: eLife
DOI: 10.7554/elife.65760
Language: English
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,500
Funders: National Science Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Government of Canada, European Commission, Human Frontier Science Program, National Institutes of Health, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Natural Environment Research Council, European Research Council, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, H2020 European Research Council, FP7 Ideas: European Research Council
Awards: G1151036099, Innovation systems and economic development: the role of local and regional clusters in Canada, Atmospheric Transformations and Mutagenic Activity of Primary and Secondary Air Pollutants, G171016380, Beyond Riemannian Geometry in Inference, Effects of group dynamics on selection, development and demography in cooperative vertebrates, Center for Central Nervous System Function, G296740159, G3602257054, Random Dynamical Systems and Limit Theorems for Optimal Tracking, The Role of Proline Metabolism During Osteoblast Differentiation and Bone Formation, G4293858528, Topology of Cancer Evolution and Heterogeneity, G4965703314, G5306657525, The evolution and development of cooperation in mammalian societies, ECOG-ACRIN Network Group Statistics and Data Management Center, The effects of social identity threat on implicit learning, Séminaire avec des lauréats du prix Molson, 21-24 septembre 2000, Quantifying the genome-wide functional consequences of DNA methylation associated with early life adversity., RoL: FELS: RAISE: Does everyone's microbiome follow the same rules?, G9000209794, COBRE: Center for Computational Biology of Human Disease, Role of Glutamine Metabolism During Osteoblast Differentiation and Bone Formation
OpenAlex ID: W3155305865