The genomes of two key bumblebee species with primitive eusocial organization

Background: The shift from solitary to social behavior is one of the major evolutionary transitions. Primitively eusocial bumblebees are uniquely placed to illuminate the evolution of highly eusocial insect societies. Bumblebees are also invaluable natural and agricultural pollinators, and there is widespread concern over recent population declines in some species. High-quality genomic data will inform key aspects of bumblebee biology, including susceptibility to implicated population viability threats. Results: We report the high quality draft genome sequences of Bombus terrestris and Bombus impatiens, two ecologically dominant bumblebees and widely utilized study species. Comparing these new genomes to those of the highly eusocial honeybee Apis mellifera and other Hymenoptera, we identify deeply conserved similarities, as well as novelties key to the biology of these organisms. Some honeybee genome features thought to underpin advanced eusociality are also present in bumblebees, indicating an earlier evolution in the bee lineage. Xenobiotic detoxification and immune genes are similarly depauperate in bumblebees and honeybees, and multiple categories of genes linked to social organization, including development and behavior, show high conservation. Key differences identified include a bias in bumblebee chemoreception towards gustation from olfaction, and striking differences in microRNAs, potentially responsible for gene regulation underlying social and other traits. Conclusions: These two bumblebee genomes provide a foundation for post-genomic research on these key pollinators and insect societies. Overall, gene repertoires suggest that the route to advanced eusociality in bees was mediated by many small changes in many genes and processes, and not by notable expansion or depauperation

De l'Abject et du sublime : George Bataille, Jean Genet, Samuel Beckett

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

On the Abject and the Sublime. Georges Bataille, Jean Genet, Samuel Beckett

Ce travail de recherche étudie la déstabilisation de la hiérarchie entre l’abject et le sublime dans les oeuvres [textes de théâtre, récits et essais] de Georges Bataille, Jean Genet et Samuel Beckett. L’étude part de la constatation effectuée par Jean-François Lyotard selon laquelle la question du sublime se pose à chaque fois qu’une crise de la représentation a lieu [âges de la poétique et de l’esthétique, âge actuel] afin de confronter l’art à ce qui l’excède, lui permettant ainsi de se renouveler. Elle montre que la notion de sublime tend également, lors de chacune de ses réapparitions, à se rapprocher davantage de la notion d’abject, sensée lui être diamétralement opposée. C’est ce qui apparaît dans les oeuvres de Bataille, Genet et Beckett où la doxa qui organise le monde et les valeurs à partir de paradigmes purement antithétiques est déconstruite. Cette redéfinition du rapport entre les notions est analysée aux niveaux stylistique, poétique, esthétique, empirique, psychanalytique, moral et éthique. Un chapitre est dédié à l’étude du phénomène dans l’oeuvre de chaque auteur. Bataille remet en question la hiérarchie entre les notions en définissant un nouvel humanisme « noir » – ou « hyperhumanisme » – grâce à un terrorisme notionnel et littéraire pensant la communication comme un sacrifice. Genet se fait le chantre de l’abject en empruntant les moyens du sublime et en retournant chaque notion en son contraire, au point de ne plus pouvoir les distinguer. Beckett met en place une poétique de la Vanité, déclinée sur les modes classique et postmoderne, permettant de rendre compte de l’inhérente proximité et complémentarité des notions grandissant à travers les siècles. À défaut de proposer une solution au problème posé par Lyotard, ce travail montre la nécessité de prendre en considération le lien unissant le sublime à l’abject lors de toute tentative de renouvellement artistique.This thesis examines the destabilization of the hierarchical relationship between the abject and the sublime in the works [i.e. plays, prose narratives and essays] of Georges Bataille, Jean Genet and Samuel Beckett. Its starting point is Jean-François Lyotard’s observation that the question of the sublime is raised each time there is a crisis within representation [in the age of poetics, of aesthetics, or in the present day] in order to set up a confrontation between art and that which exceeds art, permitting art to renew itself. Subsequently, it is argued that whenever the notion of the sublime appears it moves in proximity to – and sometimes merges with – its opposite : the abject. This is the case in the works of Bataille, Genet and Beckett, in which a doxa that understands the world and organizes values in terms of purely antithetical paradigms is deconstructed. This redefinition of the relationship between the sublime and the abject is analysed on a poetic, stylistic, aesthetic, empirical, psychoanalytic, moral and ethical level in the work of each author. Bataille can be said to interrogate the hierarchical separation of the two notions in defining a new « black » humanism – or « hyperhumanism » – through the use of a notional and literary terrorism which conceives of communication as sacrifice. Genet makes himself the eulogist of the abject in using sublime means and by changing each notion into its opposite, to the point that it is impossible to distinguish between the two. Beckett introduces a poetics of the Vanitas, understood in both its classical and its postmodern aspects, revealing the developing proximity and complementarity of the two notions. Rather than provide definite answers to the questions Lyotard poses, this thesis demonstrates the need to consider the links and affinities between the sublime and the abject in all attempts at artistic renewal

Le performatif. Sens et usages

Étonnant destin que celui du performatif. À peine inventé par le philosophe du langage ordinaire John Austin, il fut voué à la minimisation par celui-là même qui lui avait donné son nom, qui le jugea trivial et superficiel. Il connaît pourtant depuis plus de vingt ans un essor considérable, dans le champ philosophique comme dans l’ensemble des sciences humaines et sociales, depuis la théorie de la littérature, les Gender et les Visual Studies, les études de communication, ou l’épistémologie de l’économie. Ce volume collectif part de ce double constat, et vise à clarifier les enjeux théoriques associés à cette dissémination conceptuelle. Par un travail d’explicitation des différents usages du « performatif », qu’ils soient fidèles à la lettre austinienne ou qu’ils s’en départissent, nous avons voulu clarifier ce qui les rassemble et les distingue et contribuer par là même à un véritable dialogue, qui ne peut être fondé ni sur le déni des désaccords, ni sur la surdité aux voix qui ne résonnent pas aisément en nous

Data from: The genomes of two key bumblebee species with primitive eusocial organisation

Background: The shift from solitary to social behavior is one of the major evolutionary transitions. Primitively eusocial bumblebees are uniquely placed to illuminate the evolution of highly eusocial insect societies. Bumblebees are also invaluable natural and agricultural pollinators, and there is widespread concern over recent population declines in some species. High-quality genomic data will inform key aspects of bumblebee biology, including susceptibility to implicated population viability threats. Results: We report the high quality draft genome sequences of Bombus terrestris and Bombus impatiens, two ecologically dominant bumblebees and widely utilized study species. Comparing these new genomes to those of the highly eusocial honeybee Apis mellifera and other Hymenoptera, we identify deeply conserved similarities, as well as novelties key to the biology of these organisms. Some honeybee genome features thought to underpin advanced eusociality are also present in bumblebees, indicating an earlier evolution in the bee lineage. Xenobiotic detoxification and immune genes are similarly depauperate in bumblebees and honeybees, and multiple categories of genes linked to social organization, including development and behavior, show high conservation. Key differences identified include a bias in bumblebee chemoreception towards gustation from olfaction, and striking differences in microRNAs, potentially responsible for gene regulation underlying social and other traits. Conclusions: These two bumblebee genomes provide a foundation for post-genomic research on these key pollinators and insect societies. Overall, gene repertoires suggest that the route to advanced eusociality in bees was mediated by many small changes in many genes and processes, and not by notable expansion or depauperation

RAD tag (SgrAI) derived SNPs from Bombus impatiens

RAD tag (SgrAI) derived SNPs from Bombus impatiens from Sadd et al. (2015) "The genomes of two key bumblebee species with primitive eusocial organisation