Cournault Laurent, Aron Serge
Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 160/12 50, av. F.D. Roosevelt, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
Naturwissenschaften. 2009 Dec;96(12):1393-400. doi: 10.1007/s00114-009-0590-1. Epub 2009 Jul 30.
Under complementary sex determination (CSD), females of Hymenoptera arise from diploid, fertilized eggs and males from haploid, unfertilized eggs. Incidentally, fertilized eggs that inherit two identical alleles at the CSD locus will develop into diploid males. Diploid males are usually unviable or sterile. In a few species, however, they produce diploid sperm and father a triploid female progeny. Diploid males have been reported in a number of social Hymenoptera, but the occurrence of triploid females has hardly ever been documented. Here, we report the presence of triploid females, diploid males, and diploid sperm (produced by diploid males and stored in queen spermathecae) in the ant Tapinoma erraticum. Moreover, we show variations in the frequency of triploids among female castes: Triploid females are more frequent among workers than virgin queens; they are absent among mated, reproductive queens. The frequency of triploid workers also varies between populations and between nests within populations.
在互补性性别决定（CSD）机制下，膜翅目昆虫的雌性由二倍体受精卵发育而来，雄性则由单倍体未受精卵发育而来。顺便提一下，在CSD基因座上继承两个相同等位基因的受精卵会发育成二倍体雄性。二倍体雄性通常无法存活或不育。然而，在少数物种中，它们能产生二倍体精子并使三倍体雌性后代受精。在许多社会性膜翅目昆虫中都报道过二倍体雄性，但三倍体雌性的出现却鲜有记录。在此，我们报告在游荡蚁（Tapinoma erraticum）中存在三倍体雌性、二倍体雄性以及二倍体精子（由二倍体雄性产生并储存在蚁后的受精囊中）。此外，我们还展示了三倍体在不同雌性等级中的频率差异：三倍体雌性在工蚁中比未交配的蚁后更为常见；在已交配的生殖蚁后中则不存在。三倍体工蚁的频率在不同种群之间以及种群内的不同蚁巢之间也有所变化。
