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Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations
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Evolutionary dynamics of recent selection on cognitive abilities.

Sara E Miller1, Andrew W Legan1, Michael T Henshaw2

  • 1Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.

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|January 26, 2020
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Summary

Recent strong selection in paper wasps (Polistes fuscatus) reveals genes linked to visual recognition and memory. This suggests cognitive evolution was a major driver of recent adaptation in this species.

Keywords:
cognitionevolutionary dynamicsselective sweepssocial evolutionwasps

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Neuroethology
  • Genomics

Background:

  • Cognitive abilities vary across species, with ongoing debate on social vs. ecological drivers.
  • Understanding the selective forces behind cognitive evolution is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate recent selection pressures on cognition in the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus.
  • Examine the genetic basis of evolved visual individual recognition.

Main Methods:

  • Generated high-quality de novo genome assemblies for paper wasp species.
  • Utilized population genomic frameworks to analyze selection.
  • Identified and analyzed selective sweeps in Polistes fuscatus.

Main Results:

  • Strong selective sweeps in P. fuscatus contain genes related to memory, mushroom body development, and visual processing.
  • These genes are associated with the evolution of individual recognition.
  • Homologous pathways are not under selection in related species lacking individual recognition.
  • Cognition loci are prevalent in the strongest selective sweeps, indicating significant recent selection.

Conclusions:

  • Cognitive evolution, particularly visual recognition, has been a major recent selective pressure in P. fuscatus.
  • Hard selective sweeps on de novo mutations, primarily in noncoding regions, occurred within the last few thousand years.
  • Provides insights into the evolutionary processes driving cognitive adaptation.