ANTSR Region Diversity in Long Non-Coding RNA of Hymenoptera
Tyler McClure, Sean Velasquez
Department of Kinesiology
Faculty Supervisor: Scott Roy
Not all sex determination is performed by sex chromosomes. In Hymenoptera, including ants, wasps, and agriculturally impactful bees, sex determination is most commonly linked to haploid or diploid karyotyping. Typically, unfertilized (1n) eggs will develop into males, while fertilized eggs (2n) will develop into females. In many species, female development is triggered not by karyotype per se but by heterozygosity in a gene called the “Complementary Sex Determination” (CSD) gene; however, CSD genes have been difficult to find. Recent work showed that a Long Non-Coding RNA (lncRNA) named ANTSR is the CSD gene in some ants. To assess whether ANTSR could be the CSD gene across Hymenoptera, we assessed diversity at the ANTSR locus across diverse species. Using datasets available on NCBI, our team found evidence of elevated polymorphisms in 9 species within vespidae, formicidae, and apidae. This suggests an ancient origination of the ANTSR gene and provides supporting evidence for a newly discovered sex determining mechanism acting across Hymenoptera.