A Sociogenomic Perspective on the Evolution of Superorganismality

Major transitions in evolution, such as the origin of the eukaryotic cell, multicellularity or animal societies, are categorized by major “leaps” in biological complexity, and rely on the successful cooperation among lower-level biological units to produce coordinated collective behaviour. The pinnacle of sociality is reached in some insect societies, where colonies can behave in such an integrated and coordinated way that they are often referred to as superorganisms. Major questions, however, remain in our understanding of how superorganismal traits first evolved. In the present project, I will use behavioural observations, experimental manipulations, and modern genomic techniques to study the origin of insect sociality in unprecedented detail across key solitary, primitively eusocial and advanced eusocial species. In this way, the project will elucidate what preadaptations and evolutionary innovations were important for the origin of helper behaviour, the evolution of reproductivity plasticity in primitively eusocial groups and the origin of queen-worker caste dimorphism in advanced eusocial species. To do so, the project will make use of innovative sociogenomic techniques and transcriptome profiling to determine how gene regulatory networks in solitary and primitively social ancestors were co-opted and repurposed to produce advanced social behaviour. In this way, this project will bring major new insights into one of the major transitions in the evolution of life on earth.