Genomic Echoes: Evolutionary Parallels Between Ant and Bee Sociality and Genome Architecture

Ants and bees, both members of the order Hymenoptera, share a common ancestor but diverged into distinct evolutionary trajectories, most notably in the degree and form of their social organization. Ants (Formicidae) are almost universally eusocial, characterized by reproductive division of labor, overlapping generations, and cooperative brood care organized within rigid caste systems. Bees, by contrast, display a striking gradient of sociality, ranging from solitary and communal species to primitively eusocial and highly eusocial lineages such as honeybees and stingless bees. Rather than referring to social behavior itself, we use the term “genomic echoes” to describe recurring genomic signatures — such as chromosome architecture, repetitive DNA composition, and patterns of genome organization — that accompany or correlate with the independent evolution of complex sociality across ants and bees.This Research Topic aims to explore whether the evolutionary processes that produced eusociality in ants have left comparable genomic “echoes” in bees, and to clarify how variation in social complexity across bee lineages maps onto genomic and chromosomal diversity. Chromosome evolution — including fusions, fissions, inversions, and shifts in AT-rich heterochromatin — has been closely linked to caste differentiation and colony organization in ants, yet comparable data in bees remain limited, particularly for species with intermediate or solitary social states. By explicitly framing sociality as a spectrum rather than a binary trait, this collection seeks to determine which genomic features are tied specifically to eusociality (division of labor, colony-level organization, reproductive specialization) and which are lineage-specific artifacts unrelated to social behavior. We invite contributions that use comparative genomics, cytogenetics, and phylogenomics to test whether increasing social complexity across bee taxa correlates with genomic patterns already documented in highly eusocial ants, thereby building a unified evolutionary framework connecting genome architecture to social evolution in Hymenoptera. This Research Topic welcomes studies examining the genomic and chromosomal correlates of social evolution across ants and bees. Suggested themes include:1. Genomic and chromosomal signatures associated with eusociality, caste differentiation, and division of labor.2. Comparative genomics across the bee sociality gradient (solitary, communal, primitively eusocial, highly eusocial) versus predominantly eusocial ants.3. Mechanisms of chromosome evolution (fusions, fissions, inversions) linked to social organization and speciation.4. Repetitive DNA and heterochromatin (including AT-rich sequences) as markers of genome reorganization tied to social complexity.5. Phylogenomic reconstructions testing convergent versus divergent genomic pathways to sociality within Hymenoptera.6. Functional genomics linking specific genes or genomic regions to colony organization, reproductive division of labor, or caste plasticity.We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Methods, Data Reports, Perspectives, and Hypothesis and Theory articles, using experimental or computational approaches, especially those explicitly connecting social phenotype to genome architecture. Topic editors: Danon Clemes Cardoso, Andreia Arantes Borges Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83594/genomic-echoes-evolutionary-parallels-between-ant-and-bee-sociality-and-genome-architecture