Evaluating the role of reproductive constraints in ant social evolution.

ABSTRACT: The reproductive division of labour is a key feature of eusociality in ants, where queen and worker castes show dramatic differences in the development of their reproductive organs. To understand the developmental and genetic basis underlying this division of labour, we performed a molecular analysis of ovary function and germ cell development in queens and workers. We show that the processes of ovarian development in queens have been highly conserved relative to the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. We also identify specific steps during oogenesis and embryogenesis in which ovarian and germ cell development have been evolutionarily modified in the workers. These modifications, which we call 'reproductive constraints', are often assumed to represent neutral degenerations that are a consequ

SUBMITTER: Khila A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2817144 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature