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Characterization of Quantitative Trait Loci for the Age of First Foraging in Honey Bee Workers

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Abstract

Identifying the basis of quantitative trait loci (QTL) remains challenging for the study of complex traits, such as behavior. The honey bee is a good model combining interesting social behavior with a high recombination rate that facilitates this identification. Several studies have focused on the pollen hoarding syndrome, identifying multiple QTL as the genetic basis of its behavioral components. One component, the age of first foraging, is central for colony organization and four QTL were previously described without identification of their genomic location. Enabled by the honey bee genome project, this study provides data from multiple experiments to scrutinize these QTL, including individual and pooled SNP mapping, sequencing of AFLP markers, and microsatellite genotyping. The combined evidence confirms and localizes two of the previous QTL on chromosome four and five, dismisses the other two, and suggests one novel genomic region on chromosome eleven to influence the age of first foraging. Among the positional candidates the Ank2, PKC, Erk7, and amontillado genes stand out due to corroborating functional evidence. This study thus demonstrates the power of combined, genome-based approaches to enable targeted studies of a manageable set of candidate genes for natural behavioral variation in the important, complex social trait “age of first foraging”.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Robert Page (ASU) for breeding and providing the original mapping populations, as well as allowing me to use the software MapQTL, Charlie Whitfield (UIUC) for practical assistance with the pooled SNP genotyping and providing his raw data to enable my analyses, and Greg Hunt (Purdue), Michael Munday (UNCG) and Patrick Nolan (UNCG) for advice and help regarding the analysis of candidate genes. Two careful reviewers significantly improved the quality of this manuscript. Practical help was provided by Kim Fondrk (UCD) and Meredith Humphries (UCD) with cloning the AFLP fragments, and Jackie Metheny (UNCG) and Emily Meznar (UNCG) with microsatellite genotyping. Financial support was provided by NSF (#0615502) and NIH (NIA PO1 AG22500).

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  1. Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1000 Spring Garden Street, Greensboro, NC, 27403, USA

    Olav Rueppell

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Correspondence to Olav Rueppell.

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Edited by Yong-Kyu Kim.

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Rueppell, O. Characterization of Quantitative Trait Loci for the Age of First Foraging in Honey Bee Workers. Behav Genet 39, 541–553 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-009-9278-8

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