Seeley Thomas D, Tarpy David R
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Proc Biol Sci. 2007 Jan 7;274(1606):67-72. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3702.
Most species of social insects have singly mated queens, but in some species each queen mates with numerous males to create a colony with a genetically diverse worker force. The adaptive significance of polyandry by social insect queens remains an evolutionary puzzle. Using the honeybee (Apis mellifera), we tested the hypothesis that polyandry improves a colony's resistance to disease. We established colonies headed by queens that had been artificially inseminated by either one or 10 drones. Later, we inoculated these colonies with spores of Paenibacillus larvae, the bacterium that causes a highly virulent disease of honeybee larvae (American foulbrood). We found that, on average, colonies headed by multiple-drone inseminated queens had markedly lower disease intensity and higher colony strength at the end of the summer relative to colonies headed by single-drone inseminated queens. These findings support the hypothesis that polyandry by social insect queens is an adaptation to counter disease within their colonies.
大多数社会性昆虫的蚁后只与一只雄性交配，但在某些物种中，每只蚁后会与众多雄性交配，以建立一个拥有基因多样化工蚁群体的蚁群。社会性昆虫蚁后多雄交配的适应性意义仍然是一个进化难题。我们以蜜蜂（西方蜜蜂）为研究对象，检验了多雄交配能提高蚁群抗病能力这一假设。我们建立了由分别与1只或10只雄蜂人工授精的蚁后领导的蜂群。之后，我们用幼虫芽孢杆菌的孢子对这些蜂群进行接种，这种细菌会引发蜜蜂幼虫的一种高致病性疾病（美洲幼虫腐臭病）。我们发现，平均而言，与由单只雄蜂授精的蚁后领导的蜂群相比，由多只雄蜂授精的蚁后领导的蜂群在夏末时疾病强度明显更低，蜂群实力更强。这些发现支持了社会性昆虫蚁后多雄交配是为了对抗其蚁群内疾病的这一假设。
