10.5061/DRYAD.PK121
Libbrecht, Romain
University of Lausanne
Keller, Laurent
University of Lausanne
Data from: Genetic compatibility affects division of labor in the
Argentine ant Linepithema humile
Dryad
dataset
2012
social insects
Linepithema humile
division of labor
2012-08-16T18:24:19Z
2012-08-16T18:24:19Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01792.x
3057152 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Division of labor is central to the organization of insect societies.
Within-colony comparisons between subfamilies of workers (patrilines or
matrilines) revealed genetic effects on division of labor in many social
insect species. Although this has been taken as evidence for additive
genetic effects on division of labor, it has never been experimentally
tested. To determine the relative roles of additive and non-additive
genetic effects (e.g., genetic compatibility, epistasis and
parent-of-origin imprinting effects) on worker behavior, we performed
controlled crosses using the Argentine ant Linepithema humile. Three of
the measured behaviors (the efficiency to collect pupae, the foraging
propensity and the distance between non-brood-tenders and brood) were
affected by the maternal genetic background and the two others (the
efficiency to feed larvae and the distance between brood-tenders and
brood) by the paternal genetic background. Moreover, there were
significant interactions between the maternal and paternal genetic
backgrounds for three of the five behaviors. These results are most
consistent with parent-of-origin and genetic compatibility effects on
division of labor. The finding of non-additive genetic effects is in
strong contrast with the current view and has important consequences for
our understanding of division of labor in insect societies.
Data_Libbrecht_and_Keller_2012