Queen activation of lazy workers in colonies of the eusocial naked mole-rat
Queen activation of lazy workers in colonies of the eusocial naked mole-rat
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作者：
H. Reeve
进化上的利益冲突预计会出现在基因多样化的社会群体中。在群居昆虫社会中，蜂后和工蜂之间就工蜂的活跃程度存在着潜在的冲突2 - 5，有证据表明，蜂后的攻击性会增加懒惰工蜂的活跃程度2,3。在这里，我提供的证据表明，在实验室群居哺乳动物裸鼹鼠（Heterocephalus glaber）的群体中，蚁后攻击（推搡）是蚁后与工蚁之间冲突的趋同进化表现。女王发起的推搡激活了天生懒惰的工人，与不经常被推搡的勤奋工人相比，这些工人往往更大，或与女王的关系更小。此外，蜂王的移除选择性地抑制了与它关系不大的工蜂的活动。最后，蚁后推搡和工蚁不动在蚁群吃饱时很明显，而在蚁群饿时则不明显，这表明潜在的“工作冲突”是高度特定于环境的。
EVOLUTIONARY conflicts of interest are expected to arise in genetically diverse social groups1. In eusocial insect societies, a potential conflict exists between the queen and her workers over how active the workers should be2–5, and evidence exists that queen aggression increases activity levels of her lazier workers2,3. Here I provide evidence that queen aggression (shoving) in laboratory colonies of the eusocial mammal, the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber), is a convergently evolved manifestation of queen–worker conflict over worker activity. Queen-initiated shoves activate inherently lazy workers, which tend to be larger and/or less related to the queen than are infrequently shoved, industrious workers. In addition, queen removal selectively depresses the activity of workers that are larger and less related to her. Finally, queen shoving and worker inactivity are pronounced when colonies are satiated but not when colonies are hungry, indicating that the underlying 'work-conflict' is highly context-specific.