Genome Annotation of the Primitively Eusocial Paper Wasp Polistes dominula: Challenges and Insights

The evolution of social behavior and its genomic underpinnings is an area of intense research interest. In particular, species exhibiting primitively eusocial behavior represent an informative intermediate form of social organization, between solitary and advanced eusocial forms. New genomic data resources for the primitively eusocial paper wasp Polistes dominula provide an excellent framework for study of the molecular basis of eusociality. This talk will discuss the challenges encountered in annotating the P. dominula genome, and in leveraging these data to explore genome composition, gene expression and splicing, DNA methylation, and gene conservation.