PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Beryl M. Jones AU - Benjamin E.R. Rubin AU - Olga Dudchenko AU - Karen M. Kapheim AU - Eli S. Wyman AU - Brian G. St. Hilaire AU - Weijie Liu AU - Lance R. Parsons AU - S. RaElle Jackson AU - Katharine Goodwin AU - Shawn M. Davidson AU - Callum J. Kingwell AU - Andrew E. Webb AU - Mauricio Fernández Otárola AU - Melanie Pham AU - Arina D. Omer AU - David Weisz AU - Joshua Schraiber AU - Fernando Villanea AU - William T. Wcislo AU - Robert J. Paxton AU - Brendan G. Hunt AU - Erez Lieberman Aiden AU - Sarah D. Kocher TI - Convergent selection on juvenile hormone signaling is associated with the evolution of eusociality in bees AID - 10.1101/2021.04.14.439731 DP - 2021 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 2021.04.14.439731 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/14/2021.04.14.439731.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/14/2021.04.14.439731.full AB - Life’s most dramatic innovations, from the emergence of self-replicating molecules to highly-integrated societies, often involve increases in biological complexity. Some groups traverse different levels of complexity, providing a framework to identify key factors shaping these evolutionary transitions. Halictid bees span the transition from individual to group reproduction, with repeated gains and losses of eusociality. We generated chromosome-length genome assemblies for 17 species and searched for genes that both experienced positive selection when eusociality arose and relaxed selection when eusociality was secondarily lost. Loci exhibiting these complementary evolutionary signatures are predicted to carry costs outweighed by their importance for traits in eusocial lineages. Strikingly, these loci included two proteins that bind and transport juvenile hormone (JH) – a key regulator of insect development and reproduction. Though changes in JH abundance are frequently associated with polymorphisms, the mechanisms coupling JH to novel phenotypes are not well understood. Our results suggest novel links between JH and eusociality arose in halictids by altering transport and availability of JH in a tissue-specific manner, including in the brain. Through genomic comparisons of species encompassing both the emergence and breakdown of eusociality, we provide insights into the mechanisms targeted by selection to shape a key evolutionary transition.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.