DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0k6djhb3w
title: Foraging behaviour variations, for gene expression and transcriptomic divergence in parasitic wasp populations of Venturia canescens

description: Foraging behaviours encompass strategies to locate resources and to
 exploit them. In many taxa, these behaviours are driven by a major gene
 called for, but mechanisms vary between species. In the parasitoid wasp
 Venturia canescens, sexual and asexual populations coexist in sympatry but
 differ in life-history trait, physiology and behaviours, which could
 impact their foraging strategies. Here, we explored the molecular bases
 underpinning divergence in behaviours by testing two mutually nonexclusive
 hypotheses: first, the divergence in the for gene correlates with
 difference in foraging strategies, and second, the latter rely on a
 divergence in whole-genome expression. Using comparative genomics, we
 showed that the for gene was conserved across insects considering both
 sequence and gene model complexity. Polymorphism analysis did not support
 the occurrence of two allelic variants diverging across the two
 populations, yet the asexual population exhibited less polymorphism than
 the sexual population. Sexual and asexual transcriptomes sharply split,
 with 10.9% of differentially expressed genes, but these were not enriched
 in behavioural-related genes. We showed that the for gene was more highly
 expressed in asexual female heads than in sexual heads and that those
 differences correlate with divergence in foraging behaviours in our
 experiment since asexuals explored the environment more and exploited more
 host patches. Overall, these results suggested that fine tuning of for
 gene expression between populations may have led to distinct foraging
 behaviours. We hypothesized that reproductive polymorphism and coexistence
 in sympatry of sexual and asexual populations specialized to different
 ecological niches via divergent optima on phenotypic traits could imply
 adaptation through different expression patterns of the for gene and at
 many other loci throughout the genome.
description: In a behavioural experiment, the foraging behaviours of 34
 parasitic wasps (17 sexual and 17 asexual) was recorded in the laboratory.
 On the same individuals, the expression of the <em>for</em>
 gene was quantified by qPCR. All corresponding measures are stored in the
 table 'for_foraging_34.txt'. This file was then analysed with R
 using the script 'script_foraging_for.R'. Transcriptome from
 sexual (3 RNA-seq libraries) and asexual (3 RNA-seq libraries) female
 heads have been sequenced and mapped (raw data accessible in GEO GSE194171). After mapping,
 transcript-aligned reads were counted in the file
 'Vcan_countTable.txt'. This table was then analysed with the
 script 'transcripto_SexAsex.R', using R and the metadata
 contained in the file 'metadata.txt'. Full details on data
 acquisition and analysis are described in the materials and methods
 section of the article entitled 'The <em>for</em> gene as one of the
 drivers of foraging variations in a parasitic
 wasp'.
description: All files can be opened and read with any text editor. Scripts
 can be executed with R, an open-source software.