Honey bees have a variant of the same foraging gene that controls the onset of foraging behavior. The needs of a honey bee colony are communicated between bees by pheromones, chemical signals which trigger behavioral responses. melanogaster, both “sitters” and “rovers”. Naturally occurring allelic variation produces behavioral syndromes in D. melanogaster encodes a cGMP mediated protein kinase (PKG). A molecular basis for feeding behavior has been determined in Drosophila melanogaster, which shares a common insect ancestor. In order to discover how foraging in bees is genetically encoded, the honey bee genome was searched for genes that may be shared by other species. The regulation of social foraging is important to maintain division of labor, requisite of eusocial organization. Honey bees have a several week lifespan divided between two phases-one spent caring for the hive, the other spent foraging. To examine higher insect social order, researchers looked into the potential evolutionary history of a “foraging gene” in honey bees ( Apis mellifera). Completion of the honey bee genome and other model organism genomes has made further between-species sociogenomic comparisons possible. Robinson, which published and made public a completed honey bee ( Apis mellifera) genome in October 2006. Notable progress in this field was made by the Honey Bee Genome Sequencing Consortium, led by Gene E. Efforts in genome sequencing have allowed researchers to examine eusocial insect behavior from a molecular perspective. Sociogenomic methodology has been applied to understanding the biology of eusociality include its cellular origin, caste determination in a eusocial hierarchy, and the mechanisms that mediate division of labor. The goal is to determine genes or sets of genes and their artifacts that contribute to the expression of a phenotype. While sociogenomics integrates more fields of study and is more encompassing than classical genetics, the methodology is still considered forward genetics. Data of this sort is especially useful when comparing the genomic qualities of organisms with varying degrees of social organization. Of particular interest are differential gene expression of mRNA ( transcriptomics) and protein transcription ( proteomics) that correspond to changes in behavior. Sociogenomics, a subdiscipline of genomics, is an integrative approach to behavioral biology that compares genomic data to behavioral phenotype. Sociogenomics is an integrated field that accounts for the complete cellular genetic complement of an organism from a top-down approach, accounting for all biotic influences that effect behavior on a cellular level. Many examples of genetic factors of social behavior have been derived from a bottom-up method of altering a gene and observing the change it produces in an organism. Model genetic species, such as D.melanogaster (common fruit fly) and Apis mellifera (honey bee), have been rigorously studied and proven to be instrumental in developing the science of genetics. The genetics of social behavior is an area of research that attempts to address the question of the role that genes play in modulating the neural circuits in the brain which influence social behavior.
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