Within-Colony Kin Discrimination in a Social Insect

从达尔文时代起，群居昆虫就成为 进化生物学的大难题 他们的工人阶级 是自然界中生殖利他主义的最好例子 世界，然而，自然选择的过程是预期的，因为 大多数情况下，导致生殖自私。 进化如何 导致放弃生殖？ 社会性昆虫的答案 (and也许在某种程度上也适用于人类） 亲属关系 群居昆虫的群体是一群亲戚。 工人 不会繁殖，但它们帮助亲戚繁殖， 允许对工作行为的基因进行选择。 但是，我们仍然不明白， 在个人利益和社会利益之间 集团作为一个整体。 同样的进化亲属理论， 解释了合作是如何发展的，也预测了可能会有 殖民地内部的冲突。 这是特别正确的，如果 个体可以区分和帮助他们最亲近的亲属， 他们的殖民地，但不知道他们是否这样做。 Drs. Strassmann和Queller将使用DNA技术来回答这个问题 问题 他们将使用一类称为微卫星的基因 基因. 因为这些基因数量众多且高度可变， 它们可用于对以下各项进行必要的精细估计： 相关性 因此，斯特拉斯曼博士和奎勒博士将确定 群居昆虫群体是完全合作的实体， 或者如果他们是部分神秘的有争议的集会， 每个人，都在追求自己的目标。 这将大大 增加对利他主义的程度和性质的理解， 自然界 该项目将有助于新的技术， 微卫星基因，这在许多领域都很重要，包括 各种各样的进化研究，保护遗传学， 法医学和基因图谱研究， 需求 除了有助于培养博士后和 斯特拉斯曼博士和奎勒博士鼓励研究生们 本科生、高中生和 教师们把学到的知识带回课堂。

From the time of Darwin on, the social insects have posed one of the great puzzles of evolutionary biology. Their worker castes are the prime example of reproductive altruism in the natural world, yet the process of natural selection is expected, for the most part, to lead to reproductive selfishness. How can evolution lead to giving up reproduction? The answer for social insects (and perhaps also to some extent for humans) turns out to be kinship. Colonies of social insects are groups of kin. Workers don't reproduce, but they help relatives to reproduce and this permits selection for genes for working behavior. However, we still don't understand what kind of balance is struck between the interests of the individual and the interests of the group as a whole. The same evolutionary kinship theory that explains how cooperation can evolve also predicts that there may be conflict within colonies. This is particularly true if individuals can distinguish and aid their closest relatives in their colony, but it is not known whether they do this. Drs. Strassmann and Queller will use DNA technology to answer this question. They will use a class of genes called microsatellite genes. Because these genes are both numerous and highly variable, they can be used to make the necessary fine-level estimates of relatedness. Thus, Drs. Strassmann and Queller will determine to what extent social insect colonies really are completely cooperative entities, or if they are in part cryptically contentious assemblies of individuals, each pursuing its own aims. This will greatly increase understanding of the extent and nature of altruism in the natural world. This project will contribute to the new technology surrounding microsatellite genes, which is important in many areas, including all kinds of evolutionary studies, conservation genetics, forensics, and gene-mapping studies for agricultural and medical needs. Besides contributing to the training of postdoctoral and graduate students, Drs. Strassmann and Queller encourage participation of undergraduates, high school students, and teachers who take the knowledge they gain back to the classroom.