Gene Expression and Alternative Splicing Regulate Phenotypic Plasticity of a Social Wasp

Phenotypic plasticity enables a single genome to produce multiple highly variable phenotypes. Plasticity arises through transcriptomic variation, which includes differential gene expression and alternative splicing. Here, we use the polyandrous social wasp Vespula maculifrons to examine genetic and environmental effects on transcriptome variation and phenotypic plasticity. To assess transcriptomic diversity, we quantified differential gene expression and alternative splicing between head and thoracic tissues of queens and workers. Gene expression differences were stronger across tissues than castes and exceeded differences observed for alternative splicing. We uncovered significant correlation between differential gene expression and alternative splicing patterns, indicating these two regulatory layers are partly overlapping. We also found that genetic background within a colony influenced transcriptomic variation, but to a much lesser extent than colony membership. This result is consistent with stronger effects of environmental variation than genetic variation in shaping transcriptomic variation. Together, our results demonstrate how multiple layers of transcriptome regulation vary in the context of developmental differentiation, colony environment, and genetic lineage of a natural social system.