The making of a social insect – the regulatory architectures of social design

The origins of social behavior in insects are sought by mechanistic and evolutionary approaches with the common goal of understanding the foundations of social life. The transitions from solitary to social living are studied at multiple levels of analysis ranging from molecular genetics and genomics to evolutionary theories of inclusive fitness and altruism. A fundamental focus of this research is to explain how complex social phenotypes can evolve from ancestral solitary forms. Our group addresses the same question using a battery tools to integrate insights on biochemistry, functional genomics, proteomics, physiology and behavior. We use the highly eusocial honey bee (Apis mellifera) as primary model organism, with particular emphasis on social life-history regulation – including aging.

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Reply to Oldroyd and Beekman 2008, PLoS Biology 6, e56 (PDF)