10.5061/DRYAD.F78B1
Pontieri, Luigi
University of Copenhagen
Schmidt, Anna M.
University of Copenhagen
Singh, Rohini
University of Pennsylvania
Pedersen, Jes Søe
University of Copenhagen
Linksvayer, Timothy A.
University of Pennsylvania
Data from: Artificial selection on ant female caste ratio uncovers a link
between female-biased sex ratios and infection by Wolbachia endosymbionts
Dryad
dataset
2016
Parasite manipulation
reproductive caste
Wolbachia
Artificial selection
Monomorium pharaonis
caste ratio
2016-11-21T19:19:26Z
2016-11-21T19:19:26Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13012
85279 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Social insect sex and caste ratios are well-studied targets of
evolutionary conflicts, but the heritable factors affecting these traits
remain unknown. To elucidate these factors, we carried out a short-term
artificial selection study on female caste ratio in the ant Monomorium
pharaonis. Across three generations of bidirectional selection, we
observed no response for caste ratio, but sex ratios rapidly became more
female-biased in the two replicate high selection lines and less
female-biased in the two replicate low selection lines. We hypothesized
that this rapid divergence for sex ratio was caused by changes in the
frequency of infection by the heritable bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia,
because the initial breeding stock varied for Wolbachia infection, and
Wolbachia is known to cause female-biased sex ratios in other insects.
Consistent with this hypothesis, the proportions of Wolbachia-infected
colonies in the selection lines changed rapidly, mirroring the sex ratio
changes. Moreover, the estimated effect of Wolbachia on sex ratio (~13%
female bias) was similar in colonies before and during artificial
selection, indicating that this Wolbachia effect is likely independent of
the effects of artificial selection on other heritable factors. Our study
provides evidence for the first case of endosymbiont sex ratio
manipulation in a social insect.
Appendix S2Data for all colonies used in the study. Columns:
"Colony_ID"; "Generation" = 0-3 "Group" =
High/Low/NA for colonies in the High and Low selection lines as well as
initial colonies that were not selection; "Group2" = High1,
High2, Low1, Low2, NA, specifying which replicate group colonies were in;
"Replicate" = 1,2,0 redundant with Group2; "Parent" =
YES/NO for whether colonies were selected as parents for the next
generation; "workers", "gynes", "males" =
the total number of workers, gynes, and males produced;
"survived" = YES/NO, whether the colony survived to produce any
individuals; "reproduced" = YES/NO, whether the colony produced
any gynes or males.Supporting Information 2.txtAppendix S3Complete
annotated R script to reproduce the results and graphs.Supporting
Information 3.txt