Piekarski Patrick K, Valdés-Rodríguez Stephany, Trible Waring, Kronauer Daniel J C
Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Jul 29;122(30):e2501716122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2501716122. Epub 2025 Jul 22.
Polyphenic traits in animals often exhibit nonlinear scaling with body size. Static allometries (i.e., scaling relationships) themselves can exhibit plasticity, such that individuals of the same size and genotype differ in body proportions across different environments. In ants, both larval environment and genotype regulate the expression of caste-associated traits, including body size and ovariole number. However, it remains untested whether caste-associated traits are independently regulated by environmental variables or whether they covary due to coupled developmental mechanisms. If caste traits are regulated independently, developmental plasticity should affect both trait expression and the scaling relationships between traits. Using the clonal raider ant, , we tested this by manipulating the rearing environment of genetically identical larvae. We found that caregiver genotype, temperature, and food quantity influenced caste morphology strictly in tandem with body size, producing similar static allometries across rearing conditions (i.e., no allometric plasticity was detected). In contrast, clonal genotypes differed in average body size and their static allometries. Thus, size-matched individuals of the same genotype from different rearing environments exhibited no differences in mean caste trait expression, while those of different genotypes did. This absence of plasticity in the static allometries of different caste traits suggests that they are developmentally coupled due to systemic regulatory factors. Our findings contrast with reports of allometric plasticity in other insects, suggesting that ant caste traits are exceptionally integrated and therefore constrained in their independent responses to environmental variation. We discuss how these results inform contemporary hypotheses for ant caste development and evolution.
动物的多型性状通常表现出与体型的非线性缩放关系。静态异速生长(即缩放关系)本身可能具有可塑性,以至于相同大小和基因型的个体在不同环境中的身体比例存在差异。在蚂蚁中,幼虫环境和基因型都调节与品级相关的性状的表达,包括体型和卵巢管数量。然而,与品级相关的性状是由环境变量独立调节,还是由于耦合的发育机制而共同变化,这一点仍未得到验证。如果品级性状是独立调节的,发育可塑性应该会影响性状表达以及性状之间的缩放关系。我们使用克隆劫掠蚁对此进行了测试,通过操纵基因相同的幼虫的饲养环境来验证。我们发现,照料者基因型、温度和食物量与体型严格同步影响品级形态,在不同饲养条件下产生相似的静态异速生长关系(即未检测到异速生长可塑性)。相比之下,克隆基因型在平均体型及其静态异速生长关系方面存在差异。因此,来自不同饲养环境的相同基因型且体型匹配的个体在平均品级性状表达上没有差异,而不同基因型的个体则有差异。不同品级性状的静态异速生长关系中缺乏这种可塑性,表明它们由于系统调节因素而在发育上相互关联。我们的研究结果与其他昆虫中异速生长可塑性的报道形成对比,这表明蚂蚁的品级性状具有特殊的整合性,因此在对环境变化的独立反应中受到限制。我们讨论了这些结果如何为当代关于蚂蚁品级发育和进化的假说提供信息。