Physiological variation as a mechanism for developmental caste-biasing in a facultatively eusocial sweat bee
Physiological variation as a mechanism for developmental caste-biasing in a facultatively eusocial sweat bee
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2011.1652
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发表时间：
2012-04-07
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Wcislo, William T.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kapheim, Karen M.;Smith, Adam R.;Wcislo, William T.
真社会性昆虫的社会等级可能是通过祖先生殖基础计划的进化修改而产生的，例如一些成年人从生理上的发育中出现专门从事生殖（女王）和其他人对母亲的照顾，表现为异母行为（工人）。这一假说预测，生殖生理的变化应该出现在个体发育和劳动分工的基础。为了验证这些预测，我们确定了在一个facultieseusocial汗蜂，Megalopta genalis的劳动分工的生理联系。蚁后比工蚁更大，卵巢更大，卵黄原蛋白滴度更高。然后，我们比较了皇后和工人与他们的孤独的同行-孤独的生殖女性和分散的巢foundresses-调查生理变化作为种姓进化的一个因素。在二分体中，体型和卵巢发育是行为类别的最佳预测因子。蚁后和散布者比独居的同类更大，卵巢更大。最后，我们提出了蜜蜂在社会隔离调查的影响，个体发育的生理变化。身体大小和卵巢发育孤立的女性之间是高度可变的，并与卵黄蛋白原滴度的差异。由于这些都是社会种姓的关键生理预测，我们的研究结果提供了证据的发展种姓偏见的一个facultieseusocialbee。
Social castes of eusocial insects may have arisen through an evolutionary modification of an ancestral reproductive ground plan, such that some adults emerge from development physiologically primed to specialize on reproduction (queens) and others on maternal care expressed as allo-maternal behaviour (workers). This hypothesis predicts that variation in reproductive physiology should emerge from ontogeny and underlie division of labour. To test these predictions, we identified physiological links to division of labour in a facultatively eusocial sweat bee, Megalopta genalis. Queens are larger, have larger ovaries and have higher vitellogenin titres than workers. We then compared queens and workers with their solitary counterparts-solitary reproductive females and dispersing nest foundresses-to investigate physiological variation as a factor in caste evolution. Within dyads, body size and ovary development were the best predictors of behavioural class. Queens and dispersers are larger, with larger ovaries than their solitary counterparts. Finally, we raised bees in social isolation to investigate the influence of ontogeny on physiological variation. Body size and ovary development among isolated females were highly variable, and linked to differences in vitellogenin titres. As these are key physiological predictors of social caste, our results provide evidence for developmental caste-biasing in a facultatively eusocial bee.