Should Environmental Caste Determination Be Assumed for Termites?
Should Environmental Caste Determination Be Assumed for Termites?
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DOI：
10.1086/598498
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发表时间：
2009-06-01
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Kitade, Osamu
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lo, Nathan;Hayashi, Yoshinobu;Kitade, Osamu
社会性昆虫的一个明显特征是群体成员分化为皇家或工蚁。人们普遍认为，种姓是由环境因素决定的，基因型起很小或没有作用。因此，群居昆虫被认为是多型性的重要例子。在白蚁，各种数据支持环境种姓决定（ECD）的七个家庭中的两个，但是，其他五个证据不太明确。ECD的一种替代方法是遗传影响种姓决定（GCD），其中基因型对种姓有显着影响。我们最近在白蚁中发现了首例王室成员和工人的GCD病例。在这里，我们检查以前的殖民地组成的各种白蚁物种的研究，我们发现了一些结果，暗示GCD。这些结果的基础上，我们建议，ECD不一定要假设大多数白蚁家庭，我们概述了ECD和GCD之间的测试方法。
A defining feature of social insects is the differentiation of colony members into either royal or worker castes. It is widely believed that caste is determined by environmental factors, with genotype playing little or no role. Social insects are thus considered key examples of polyphenism. In termites, various data support environmental caste determination (ECD) in two of the seven families; however, the evidence is less clear-cut for the other five. An alternative to ECD is genetically influenced caste determination (GCD), in which genotype has a significant influence over caste. We have recently discovered the first case of GCD of royals and workers in a termite. Here we examine previous colony composition studies of various termite species, and we find a number of results that are suggestive of GCD. On the basis of these results, we suggest that ECD should not necessarily be assumed for most termite families, and we outline methods for testing between ECD and GCD.