Meunier J, Chapuisat M
Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
J Evol Biol. 2009 Sep;22(9):1906-13. doi: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01805.x. Epub 2009 Aug 3.
In social animals, body size can be shaped by multiple factors, such as direct genetic effects, maternal effects, or the social environment. In ants, the body size of queens correlates with the social structure of the colony: colonies headed by a single queen (monogyne) generally produce larger queens that are able to found colonies independently, whereas colonies headed by multiple queens (polygyne) tend to produce smaller queens that stay in their natal colony or disperse with workers. We performed a cross-fostering experiment to investigate the proximate causes of queen size variation in the socially polymorphic ant Formica selysi. As expected if genetic or maternal effects influence queen size, eggs originating from monogyne colonies developed into larger queens than eggs collected from polygyne colonies, be they raised by monogyne or polygyne workers. In contrast, eggs sampled in monogyne colonies were smaller than eggs sampled in polygyne colonies. Hence, eggs from monogyne colonies are smaller but develop into larger queens than eggs from polygyne colonies, independently of the social structure of the workers caring for the brood. These results demonstrate that a genetic polymorphism or maternal effect transmitted to the eggs influences queen size, which probably affects the social structure of new colonies.
在群居动物中，体型大小可能受多种因素影响，如直接遗传效应、母体效应或社会环境。在蚂蚁中，蚁后的体型大小与蚁群的社会结构相关：由单只蚁后领导的蚁群（单蚁后型）通常会产出体型较大的蚁后，这些蚁后能够独立建立新蚁群；而由多只蚁后领导的蚁群（多蚁后型）往往产出体型较小的蚁后，它们会留在出生的蚁群中，或者与工蚁一起扩散出去。我们进行了一项交叉寄养实验，以探究具有社会多态性的塞氏蚁（Formica selysi）蚁后体型差异的直接原因。如果遗传或母体效应影响蚁后体型，那么正如预期的那样，来自单蚁后型蚁群的卵发育成的蚁后比从多蚁后型蚁群收集的卵发育成的蚁后体型更大，无论这些卵是由单蚁后型还是多蚁后型工蚁抚养。相比之下，在单蚁后型蚁群中采集的卵比在多蚁后型蚁群中采集的卵要小。因此，来自单蚁后型蚁群的卵虽然较小，但发育成的蚁后比来自多蚁后型蚁群的卵发育成的蚁后体型更大，且这与照顾幼虫的工蚁的社会结构无关。这些结果表明，传递给卵的遗传多态性或母体效应会影响蚁后体型，这可能会影响新蚁群的社会结构。
