Social organization and the evolution of life-history traits in two queen morphs of the ant Temnothorax rugatulus.
- Publikationstyp:
- Zeitschriftenaufsatz
- Metadaten:
-
- Abstract
- During the evolution of social insects, not only did life-history traits diverge, with queens becoming highly fecund and long lived compared with their sterile workers, but also individual traits lost their importance compared with colony-level traits. In solitary animals, fecundity is largely influenced by female size, whereas in eusocial insects, colony size and queen number can affect the egg-laying rate. Here, we focused on the ant Temnothorax rugatulus, which exhibits two queen morphs varying in size and reproductive strategy, correlating with their colony's social organization. We experimentally tested the influence of social structure, colony and body size on queen fecundity and investigated links between body size, metabolic rate and survival under paraquat-induced oxidative stress. To gain insight into the molecular physiology underlying the alternative reproductive strategies, we analysed fat body transcriptomes. Per-queen egg production was lower in polygynous colonies when fecundity was limited by worker care. Colony size was a determinant of fecundity rather than body size or queen number, highlighting the super-organismal properties of these societies. The smaller microgynes were more frequently fed by workers and exhibited an increase in metabolic activity, yet they were similarly resistant to oxidative stress. Small queens differentially expressed metabolic genes in the fat body, indicating that shifts in molecular physiology and resource availability allow microgyne queens to compensate for their small size with a more active metabolism without paying increased mortality costs. We provide novel insights into how life-history traits and their associations were modified during social evolution and adapted to queen reproductive strategies.
- Addresses
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
- Autoren
- Matteo A Negroni
- Marah Stoldt
- Marie Oster
- Ann-Sophie Rupp
- Barbara Feldmeyer
- Susanne Foitzik
- DOI
- 10.1242/jeb.232793
- eISSN
- 1477-9145
- Externe Identifier
- PubMed Identifier: 33658241
- Funding acknowledgements
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft: FE 1333/6-1, FO 298/19-2
- Open access
- false
- ISSN
- 0022-0949
- Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
- 7
- Zeitschrift
- The Journal of experimental biology
- Schlüsselwörter
- Animals
- Humans
- Ants
- Reproduction
- Fertility
- Female
- Life History Traits
- Insecta
- Sprache
- eng
- Medium
- Print-Electronic
- Online publication date
- 2021
- Paginierung
- jeb232793
- Datum der Veröffentlichung
- 2021
- Status
- Published
- Datum der Datenerfassung
- 2021
- Titel
- Social organization and the evolution of life-history traits in two queen morphs of the ant Temnothorax rugatulus.
- Sub types
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Journal Article
- Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
- 224
Datenquelle: Europe PubMed Central
- Andere Metadatenquellen:
-
- Abstract
- During the evolution of social insects, not only did life-history traits diverge, with queens becoming highly fecund and long lived compared with their sterile workers, but also individual traits lost their importance compared with colony-level traits. In solitary animals, fecundity is largely influenced by female size, whereas in eusocial insects, colony size and queen number can affect the egg-laying rate. Here, we focused on the ant Temnothorax rugatulus, which exhibits two queen morphs varying in size and reproductive strategy, correlating with their colony's social organization. We experimentally tested the influence of social structure, colony and body size on queen fecundity and investigated links between body size, metabolic rate and survival under paraquat-induced oxidative stress. To gain insight into the molecular physiology underlying the alternative reproductive strategies, we analysed fat body transcriptomes. Per-queen egg production was lower in polygynous colonies when fecundity was limited by worker care. Colony size was a determinant of fecundity rather than body size or queen number, highlighting the super-organismal properties of these societies. The smaller microgynes were more frequently fed by workers and exhibited an increase in metabolic activity, yet they were similarly resistant to oxidative stress. Small queens differentially expressed metabolic genes in the fat body, indicating that shifts in molecular physiology and resource availability allow microgyne queens to compensate for their small size with a more active metabolism without paying increased mortality costs. We provide novel insights into how life-history traits and their associations were modified during social evolution and adapted to queen reproductive strategies.
- Date of acceptance
- 2021
- Autoren
- Matteo A Negroni
- Marah Stoldt
- Marie Oster
- Ann-Sophie Rupp
- Barbara Feldmeyer
- Susanne Foitzik
- Autoren-URL
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33658241
- DOI
- 10.1242/jeb.232793
- eISSN
- 1477-9145
- Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
- 7
- Zeitschrift
- J Exp Biol
- Schlüsselwörter
- Fecundity
- Gene expression
- Life-history evolution
- Longevity
- Metabolism
- Social insects
- Trade-off
- Animals
- Ants
- Female
- Fertility
- Humans
- Insecta
- Life History Traits
- Reproduction
- Sprache
- eng
- Country
- England
- PII
- 238088
- Datum der Veröffentlichung
- 2021
- Status
- Published
- Datum, an dem der Datensatz öffentlich gemacht wurde
- 2021
- Titel
- Social organization and the evolution of life-history traits in two queen morphs of the ant Temnothorax rugatulus.
- Sub types
- Journal Article
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
- 224
Datenquelle: PubMed
- Beziehungen:
- Eigentum von