Genetic royal cheats in leaf-cutting ant societies.

ABSTRACT: Social groups are vulnerable to cheating because the reproductive interests of group members are rarely identical. All cooperative systems are therefore predicted to involve a mix of cooperative and cheating genotypes, with the frequency of the latter being constrained by the suppressive abilities of the former. The most significant potential conflict in social insect colonies is over which individuals become reproductive queens rather than sterile workers. This reproductive division of labor is a defining characteristic of eusocial societies, but individual larvae will maximize their fitness by becoming queens whereas their nestmates will generally maximize fitness by forcing larvae to become workers. However, evolutionary constraints are thought to prevent cheating by removing genetic va

SUBMITTER: Hughes WO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2278208 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature