Alonso Wladimir J, Schuck-Paim Cynthia
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 May 14;99(10):6843-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.092584299. Epub 2002 May 7.
Kin-selection theory has thrived in the explanation of a wide variety of biological phenomena, chiefly the evolution of biological altruism as that found in sterile castes of eusocial insects. Much of the way in which it has been tested is based on the existence of conflicts over sex-ratio production within eusocial colonies. However, despite neatly showing eusocial colonies as arenas where selection at the gene level triggers the appearance of sophisticated disputes, these studies have only demonstrated the existence of genes that act by biasing sex ratios to promote their own spread. Here we argue that such genes depend on the social organization of the colonies where they are expressed, but that they are not, in any way, the precursors of these societies-the major implication being that unequivocal evidence that eusociality evolved through the action of kin-selected altruistic genes is still lacking. Additionally, we highlight the neglect of alternative theories on the explanation of both biological altruism and sex-ratio conflicts, and defend that the enthusiasm with the latter has, in some cases, led to its inappropriate use as a basis for the explanation of other biological characteristics of eusocial organisms, when accounts based on phylogenetic or physiological constraints are also available.
亲缘选择理论在解释各种各样的生物学现象方面取得了很大进展，主要用于解释生物利他行为的进化，比如在群居昆虫的不育等级制度中所发现的那样。其诸多检验方式大多基于群居昆虫群落内部在性别比例产生方面存在冲突这一现象。然而，尽管这些研究巧妙地将群居昆虫群落展现为基因层面的选择引发复杂争端出现的场所，但它们仅仅证明了那些通过偏向性别比例来促进自身传播的基因的存在。在此我们认为，这类基因依赖于它们所表达的群落的社会组织结构，但它们绝不是这些社会的前身——这主要意味着，仍然缺乏确凿证据表明群居性是通过亲缘选择的利他基因的作用而进化而来的。此外，我们强调了在解释生物利他行为和性别比例冲突时对其他理论的忽视，并指出，在某些情况下，对后者的过度热衷导致了它被不适当地用作解释群居生物其他生物学特征的依据，而此时基于系统发育或生理限制的解释也是可行的。
