Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Science. 2010 Mar 19;327(5972):1506-9. doi: 10.1126/science.1184709.
Queens of ants and bees normally obtain a lifetime supply of sperm on a single day of sexual activity, and sperm competition is expected to occur in lineages where queens receive sperm from multiple males. We compared singly mated (monandrous) and multiply mated (polyandrous) sister groups of ants and bees and show that seminal fluid of polyandrous species has a more positive effect on the survival of a male's own sperm than on other males' sperm. This difference was not observed in the monandrous species, suggesting that incapacitation of competing sperm may have independently evolved in both bees and ants. In Atta leafcutter ants, the negative effect of the seminal fluid of other males was negated by secretion from the queen sperm-storage organ, suggesting that queens may control ejaculate competition after sperm storage.
蚂蚁和蜜蜂的蚁后和蜂王通常在一次性活动中获得一生所需的精子供应，而在雌性从多个雄性那里获得精子的谱系中，精子竞争是预期会发生的。我们比较了单交配（单性生殖）和多交配（多性生殖）的蚂蚁和蜜蜂姐妹群，并表明多交配物种的精液对雄性自身精子的存活有更积极的影响，而对其他雄性的精子则没有。在单性生殖物种中没有观察到这种差异，这表明在蜜蜂和蚂蚁中，竞争精子的失能可能是独立进化的。在切叶蚁属的切叶蚁中，来自蜂王精子储存器官的分泌物消除了其他雄性精液的负面影响，这表明在精子储存后，蜂王可能会控制精液竞争。
