Conditional indirect genetic effects of caregivers on brood in the clonal raider ant.

ABSTRACT: Caregivers shape the rearing environment of their young. Consequently, offspring traits are influenced by the genes of their caregivers via indirect genetic effects (IGEs). However, the extent to which IGEs are modulated by environmental factors, other than the genotype of social partners (i.e., intergenomic epistasis), remains an open question. Here we investigate how brood are influenced by the genotype of their caregivers in the clonal raider ant, Ooceraea biroi, a species in which the genotype, age and number of both caregivers and brood can be experimentally controlled. First, we used four clonal lines to establish colonies that differed only in the genotype of caregivers and measured effects on foraging activity, as well as IGEs on brood phenotypes. In a second experime

SUBMITTER: Piekarski PK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10332452 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature