Support for maternal manipulation of developmental nutrition in a facultatively eusocial bee, Megalopta genalis (Halictidae)

Developmental maternal effects are a potentially important source of phenotypic variation, but they can be difficult to distinguish from other environmental factors. This is an important distinction within the context of social evolution, because if variation in offspring helping behavior is due to maternal manipulation, social selection may act on maternal phenotypes, as well as those of offspring. Factors correlated with social castes have been linked to variation in developmental nutrition, which might provide opportunity for females to manipulate the social behavior of their offspring. Megalopta genalis is a mass-provisioning facultatively eusocial sweat bee for which production of males and females in social and solitary nests is concurrent and asynchronous. Female offspring may become either gynes (reproductive dispersers) or workers (non-reproductive helpers). We predicted that if maternal manipulation plays a role in M. genalis caste determination, investment in daughters should vary more than for sons. The mass and protein content of pollen stores provided to female offspring varied significantly more than those of males, but volume and sugar content did not. Sugar content varied more among female eggs in social nests than in solitary nests. Provisions were larger, with higher nutrient content, for female eggs and in social nests. Adult females and males show different patterns of allometry, and their investment ratio ranged from 1.23 to 1.69. Adult body weight varied more for females than males, possibly reflecting increased variation in maternal investment in female offspring. These differences are consistent with a role for maternal manipulation in the social plasticity observed in M. genalis

γ-Protocadherins Interact with Neuroligin-1 and Negatively Regulate Dendritic Spine Morphogenesis

The 22 γ-Protocadherin (γ-Pcdh) cell adhesion molecules are critical for the elaboration of complex dendritic arbors in the cerebral cortex. Here, we provide evidence that the γ-Pcdhs negatively regulate synapse development by inhibiting the postsynaptic cell adhesion molecule, neuroligin-1 (Nlg1). Mice lacking all γ-Pcdhs in the forebrain exhibit significantly increased dendritic spine density in vivo, while spine density is significantly decreased in mice overexpressing one of the 22 γ-Pcdh isoforms. Co-expression of γ-Pcdhs inhibits the ability of Nlg1 to increase spine density and to induce presynaptic differentiation in hippocampal neurons in vitro. The γ-Pcdhs physically interact in cis with Nlg1 both in vitro and in vivo, and we present evidence that this disrupts Nlg1 binding to its presynaptic partner neurexin1β. Together with prior work, these data identify a mechanism through which γ-Pcdhs could coordinate dendrite arbor growth and complexity with spine maturation in the developing brain