metamerist

Thursday, July 14, 2005

The Weird World of Hymenopteran Genetics

I may have learned about the genetics of ants, bees, et al. before Dawkins, but for some reason I recall his Selfish Gene explanations so distinctly that I can't remember any coverage before them.

Due to the haplodiploidy system of hymenopteran sex determination (explained nicely here by PZ Meyers), sisters share 75% of their DNA. Dawkins theorized a link between this overlap and their highly socialized behavior--that is, it makes sense for them to be more highly socialized because they share more DNA and therefore there is a higher evolutionary payoff in cooperation.

Another strange story in ant genetics was published this week. The bizarro genetics of fire ants is in news@nature.com. The skinny:

"The sperm of the male ant appears to be able to destroy the female DNA within a fertilized egg, giving birth to a male that is a clone of its father. Meanwhile the female queens make clones of themselves to carry on the royal female line."

link

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

There are different opinions on this subject.

12:18 PM  

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