Hybridization enables the fixation of selfish queen genotypes in eusocial colonies.

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Version: Final published version
License: CC BY 4.0
Serval ID
serval:BIB_2E6B066EB480
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Hybridization enables the fixation of selfish queen genotypes in eusocial colonies.
Journal
Evolution letters
Author(s)
Weyna A., Romiguier J., Mullon C.
ISSN
2056-3744 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
2056-3744
Publication state
Published
Issued date
12/2021
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
5
Number
6
Pages
582-594
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: epublish
Abstract
A eusocial colony typically consists of two main castes: queens that reproduce and sterile workers that help them. This division of labor, however, is vulnerable to genetic elements that favor the development of their carriers into queens. Several factors, such as intracolonial relatedness, can modulate the spread of such caste-biasing genotypes. Here we investigate the effects of a notable yet understudied ecological setting: where larvae produced by hybridization develop into sterile workers. Using mathematical modeling, we show that the coevolution of hybridization with caste determination readily triggers an evolutionary arms race between nonhybrid larvae that increasingly develop into queens, and queens that increasingly hybridize to produce workers. Even where hybridization reduces worker function and colony fitness, this race can lead to the loss of developmental plasticity and to genetically hard-wired caste determination. Overall, our results may help understand the repeated evolution toward remarkable reproductive systems (e.g., social hybridogenesis) observed in several ant species.
Keywords
Genetics, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Ant, Hymenoptera, caste determination, eusociality, genetic conflicts, hybridization, parasitism, reproductive system, social hybridogenesis
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
23/09/2021 14:15
Last modification date
21/11/2022 9:28
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