Figure legends
Figure 1 : Simplified overview of CHC biosynthesis. The
biosynthesis pathway branches at different stages into different CHC
compound classes. The main CHC compound classes are methyl-branched
alkanes, straight-chain alkanes, alkenes and dienes. Enzyme
abbreviations: ACC: Acetyl-CoA carboxylase, FAS: Fatty acid synthase (m:
microsomal, c: cytosolic), LaAT: Lipoamide acyltransferase, ELO:
Elongase, KAR: 3-keto acyl-CoA-reductase, HADC:
3-hydroxy-acyl-CoA-dehydratase, TER: Trans-enoyl-CoA-reductase, FAR:
Fatty acyl-CoA reductase. CYP4G: Cytochrome P450 Decarbonylase. Numbers
next to the enzymes correspond to the associated gene transcripts we
detected in our tested Blattodea species (compare to Tab. 1). Adapted
from Holze, Schrader, and Buellesbach (2020).
Figure 2 : Comparison of average CHC ratios (relative
percentages) from the studied representative termite and cockroach
species, categorized according to their levels of social complexity. The
six major CHC compound classes detected in these species were n-alkanes,
n-alkenes, as well as mono-, di-, tri and tetra-methyl branched alkanes
and are indicated by different colors. Acronyms for the investigated
species are used here and in all subsequent figures as follows: R.
flavipes (Rf), C. formosanus (Cf), K.flavicollis (Kf), N. castaneus (Nc),M. darwiniensis (Md), B. germanica (Bg) andB. orientalis (Bo). Insect images have been obtained from
the Darmstadt Insect Scanner DISC3D (Ströbel et al. 2018) and have been
kindly provided by Sebastian Schmelzle.
Figure 3 : Comparison of molecular phylogeny (left) and a
chemical dendrogram (right) of our Blattodea study species. The
molecular phylogeny is adapted from He et al. (2021) and the chemical
dendrogram is based on average chemical Manhattan distances reflecting
the median CHC divergence separating the different cockroach and termite
species.
Figure 4 : Comparison between counts of CHC biosynthesis gene
transcripts (indicated in blue) and counts of total individual CHC
compounds (indicated in orange) detected in our representative cockroach
and termite species. Correlations between these two metrics were
assessed with a 2 (chisquare) test (r=0.12, p=0.79). Their respective
levels of social complexity are indicated in both cases. Insect images
have been obtained from the Darmstadt Insect Scanner DISC3D (Ströbel et
al. 2018) and have been kindly provided by Sebastian Schmelzle.
Figure 5 : Heatmap normalized by average relative abundances of
CHC biosynthesis gene transcript counts (columns) from high (darker
colors) to low (lighter colors) grouped by species and their respective
level of social complexity. The numbers indicated at the gene
transcripts correspond to their respective position in the CHC
biosynthesis pathway (see Fig. 1 and Tab. 1).