Publication Date:
2008-10-25
Description:
The development of queen and worker phenotypes in ants has been believed to be largely determined from environmental effects. We provide evidence that the production of discrete phenotypes is also influenced by genetic interaction effects. During the development of eggs into adults, some patrilines among offspring of multiply mated Pogonomyrmex rugosus ant queens became more common in workers while others became overrepresented in queens. Controlled crosses showed that these changes stem from some parental genome combinations being compatible for producing one phenotype but less compatible for the other. Genetic interaction effects on caste may be maintained over evolutionary time because the fitness of an allele depends on its genetic background.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Schwander, Tanja -- Keller, Laurent -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2008 Oct 24;322(5901):552. doi: 10.1126/science.1162590.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. tanja.schwander@gmail.com〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18948532" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Ants/*genetics/*physiology
;
Crosses, Genetic
;
Female
;
*Genes, Insect
;
Hierarchy, Social
;
Male
;
Ovum/physiology
;
Reproduction/genetics
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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