Eusociality in African mole-rats:: new insights from patterns of genetic relatedness in the Damaraland mole-rat (Cryptomys damarensis)
Eusociality in African mole-rats:: new insights from patterns of genetic relatedness in the Damaraland mole-rat (Cryptomys damarensis)
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2002.1978
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发表时间：
2002-05-22
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Faulkes, CG
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Burland, TM;Bennett, NC;Faulkes, CG
裸鼠的社会性被发现后，人们认为该物种的近亲繁殖和高度的群体亲缘关系是推动非洲裸鼠合作繁殖的主要潜在因素。相比之下，对真社会性达马拉兰鼹鼠（Cryptomys damarensis）的实地和实验室研究提出了这种物种是一种义务外繁殖者的可能性，尽管近亲繁殖的积累仍然可能发生几代。利用微卫星标记，我们发现在达马拉兰鼹鼠野生种群中大多数繁殖对确实是不相关的（R = 0.02 +/- 0.04），并且在三个独立种群的15个群体中确定的平均群体相关性（R = 0.46 +/- 0.01）略高于之前在裸鼹鼠中确定的一半。这一发现表明，正常的家族亲缘关系水平足以使哺乳动物发生群居性。种群间平均群体亲缘关系的变化，既支持了生态约束在合作繁殖中所起的核心作用，也支持了裸鼹鼠近亲繁殖是对极端扩散约束的一种反应。现在需要确定驱动非洲鼹鼠社会进化的一系列外在因素的相对重要性的方法。
After the discovery of eusociality in the naked mole-rat, it was proposed that inbreeding and high colony relatedness in this species were the major underlying factors driving cooperative breeding in African mole-rats. By contrast, field and laboratory studies of the eusocial Damaraland mole-rat (Cryptomys damarensis) have raised the possibility that this species is an obligate outbreeder, although the build-up of inbreeding over several generations could still occur. Using microsatellite markers, we show that most breeding pairs in wild colonies of the Damaraland mole-rat are indeed unrelated (R = 0.02 +/- 0.04) and that mean colony relatedness (R = 0.46 +/- 0.01), determined across 15 colonies from three separate populations, is little more than half that previously identified in naked mole-rats. This finding demonstrates that normal familial levels of relatedness are sufficient for the occurrence of eusociality in mammals. Variation in the mean colony relatedness among populations provides support both for the central role played by ecological constraints in cooperative breeding and for the suggestion that inbreeding in naked mole-rats is a response to extreme constraints on dispersal. Approaches that determine the relative importance of an array of extrinsic factors in driving social evolution in African mole-rats are now required.