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Q&A ViewAttendees 3

Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Undergrad MUVE and PBT: Miscellaneous

Transcriptome analysis to identify caste-specific differential expression in the termite, Zootermopsis nevadensis

Monday, November 1, 2021
9:36 AM – 9:48 AM MT
Location: Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room 501-502
In-Person Student Competition

    Presenting Author(s)

  • AM

    Alexandra Mazza

    Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
    Colonia, New Jersey

    • Co-Author(s)

  • CH

    Chloe Hawkings

    Assistant Professor, Entomology Undergraduate Program Director
    Rutgers University
    New Brunswick, New Jersey

Eusociality has evolved independently several times among insect groups and colony organization varies between these taxa. The termite, Zootermopsis nevadensis, is an economically important urban pest where it causes structural damage to buildings. The social structure of this species is complex. While they share some similarities with eusocial Hymenoptera such as reproductive division of labor and polymorphism among workers, they also display additional complexities in caste differentiation including the primary reproductives from both sexes, and immature workers contributing to colony life. The Zootermopsis nevadensis caste system consists of reproductives (kings and queens) who are the reproductive unit of the colony and workers whose tasks are involved with maintenance and growth of the colony. The molecular mechanisms that influence regulation of caste are of interest from an evolutionary perspective. In this study we analyze the gene expression differences between castes of Zootermopsis nevadensis to investigate the genes underlying caste differentiation. A transcriptome analysis was conducted on the Galaxy platform using the Zootermopsis nevadensis genome as a reference. We use FASTQC to verify the quality of the reads, HISAT2 for alignment, StringTie to assemble the reads, and DESeq2 to identify significantly differentially expressed genes (p< 0.05). Differentially expressed genes were further identified using BLAST to determine potential function. The identification of genes involved in task regulation will improve the understanding of the evolution of eusociality and the conservation of genes that influence caste structures.