Jordan Lyndon A, Allsopp Michael H, Beekman Madeleine, Wossler Theresa C, Oldroyd Benjamin P
Behaviour and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences A12, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
J Hered. 2008 Jul-Aug;99(4):376-81. doi: 10.1093/jhered/esn023. Epub 2008 May 13.
When workers of the thelytokous Cape honeybee, Apis mellifera capensis, come into contact with colonies of the neighboring arrhenotokous subspecies Apis mellifera scutellata, they can become lethal social parasites. We examined the inheritance of 3 traits (number of ovarioles, number of basitarsal hairs, and size of spermatheca) that are thought to be associated with reproductive potential in A. m. capensis workers. To do so, we produced hybrid A. m. scutellata/A. m. capensis queens and backcrossed them to either A. m. capensis or A. m. scutellata drones. We then measured the 3 traits in parental, hybrid, and backcross offspring. We show that the 3 traits are phenotypically correlated. We also show that the expression of ovariole number, basitarsal hairs, and size of spermatheca is influenced by the genotype of the individual and the rearing environment but that the influence of the rearing environment is less important to the number of ovarioles. We hypothesize a single recessive allele (l), present at high frequency in natural A. m. capensis populations, which when homozygous causes larvae to elicit more food. This increased feeding as larvae causes resulting adult workers to develop more queen-like morphology and increased reproductive potential. The number of ovarioles, in contrast, appears to be under independent genetic control.
在产雌孤雌生殖的海角蜜蜂（Apis mellifera capensis）工蜂与邻近的产雄孤雌生殖亚种海角蜜蜂（Apis mellifera scutellata）蜂群接触时，它们可能会成为致命的社会性寄生虫。我们研究了3个性状（卵巢小管数量、基跗节毛数量和受精囊大小）的遗传情况，这些性状被认为与海角蜜蜂工蜂的繁殖潜力有关。为此，我们培育了海角蜜蜂/海角蜜蜂的杂交蜂王，并让它们与海角蜜蜂或海角蜜蜂雄蜂回交。然后，我们测量了亲本、杂交和回交后代的这3个性状。我们发现这3个性状在表型上是相关的。我们还表明，卵巢小管数量、基跗节毛数量和受精囊大小的表达受个体基因型和饲养环境的影响，但饲养环境对卵巢小管数量的影响较小。我们推测在自然海角蜜蜂种群中高频存在一个隐性等位基因（l），当它纯合时会使幼虫获得更多食物。幼虫期这种增加的食物摄入会导致成年工蜂发育出更像蜂王的形态和增加繁殖潜力。相比之下，卵巢小管数量似乎受独立的基因控制。
