Diploid males, diploid sperm production, and triploid females in the ant Tapinoma erraticum

A case of polyploid utility in biocontrol: reproductively-impaired triploid Nasonia vitripennis have high host-killing ability

BACKGROUND

Intentionally impairing the fecundity of mass-reared insects has important utility in controlling pest species. Typically, sterilized individuals are competed against wild counterparts, reducing pest population size. A novel consideration is creating biocontrol agents with lower reproductive capacity that are less likely to establish permanently or admix with wild populations, which are both emerging as legal barriers. Hymenopterans have diploid females, but archetypically infertile polyploid triploid females occur for various parasitoid species. As a first test of polyploid utility for these biocontrol concerns, we assessed the species with the best characterized polyploid biology, the gregarious idiobiont Nasonia vitripennis, for triploid female host-killing ability on pupal blowfly hosts (Calliphora vomitoria).

RESULTS

We examined four polyploid lines: the old Whiting polyploid line (WPL) derived from a spontaneous mutation, and new polyploid lines made through RNAi knockdown of sex determination genes transformer, transformer-2 and wasp-overruler-of-masculinization. For diploid and triploid females of each polyploid line, and control diploids of the STDR and oyster lines used to maintain them, we measured lifetime number of hosts killed; lifetime number of hosts that produced at least one offspring; the percentage of the hosts killed and the percentage of hosts that produced offspring out of those offered; and lifespan. For all lines, triploids produced viable offspring in far fewer hosts than their diploid counterparts (≤70% less). Surprisingly though, they killed as many or more hosts than diploids over similar lifespans. The offspring production ability of the WPL triploid was half that of the other lines, but lines varied only slightly in the number of hosts killed (±10) among the polyploids.

CONCLUSION

The ability of reproductively impaired triploids to kill as many hosts as fertile diploids demonstrate high biocontrol utility for polyploidized females, and downstream potential for reducing ecological risk. © 2024 The Author(s). Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

A phylogenetic perspective of chromosome evolution in Formicidae

Chromosomes, as carriers of genes, are the fundamental units of heredity, with the eukaryotic genome divided into multiple chromosomes. Each species typically has a consistent number of chromosomes within its lineage. Ants, however, display remarkable diversity in chromosome numbers, and previous studies have shown that this variation may correlate with ant diversity. As ants evolved, various karyotypes emerged, primarily through chromosomal fissions, leading to an increase in chromosome number and a decrease in chromosome size. In this study, we investigate chromosome evolution in ants from a phylogenetic perspective using ancestral reconstruction. Our analysis indicates that the most recent common ancestor of ants had an ancestral haploid chromosome number of 11, likely composed of biarmed chromosomes. The bimodal distribution of karyotypes and the trend toward increased chromosome numbers align with previous assumptions. However, both dysploidy and ploidy changes have been indicated as likely mechanisms of chromosome number evolution. Descending dysploidy occurs consistently throughout the phylogeny, while changes in ploidy are believed to occur occasionally within the subfamilies during genus diversification. We propose, based on our results and previous evidence (e.g., genome size in ants), that both fusions and fissions contribute equally to karyotype changes in Formicidae. Additionally, changes in ploidy should not be fully ignored, as they can occur across specific lineages.

Obligate chimerism in male yellow crazy ants

Multicellular organisms typically develop from a single fertilized egg and therefore consist of clonal cells. We report an extraordinary reproductive system in the yellow crazy ant. Males are chimeras of haploid cells from two divergent lineages: R and W. R cells are overrepresented in the males' somatic tissues, whereas W cells are overrepresented in their sperm. Chimerism occurs when parental nuclei bypass syngamy and divide separately within the same egg. When syngamy takes place, the diploid offspring either develops into a queen when the oocyte is fertilized by an R sperm or into a worker when fertilized by a W sperm. This study reveals a mode of reproduction that may be associated with a conflict between lineages to preferentially enter the germ line.

Genetic analysis reveals the putative native range and widespread double-clonal reproduction in the invasive longhorn crazy ant

Clonal reproduction can provide an advantage for invasive species to establish as it can circumvent inbreeding depression which often plagues introduced populations. The world's most widespread invasive ant, Paratrechina longicornis, was previously found to display a double-clonal reproduction system, whereby both males and queens are produced clonally, resulting in separate male and queen lineages, while workers are produced sexually. Under this unusual reproduction mode, inbreeding is avoided in workers as they carry hybrid interlineage genomes. Despite the ubiquitous distribution of P. longicornis, the significance of this reproductive system for the ant's remarkable success remains unclear, as its prevalence is still unknown. Further investigation into the controversial native origin of P. longicornis is also required to reconstruct the evolutionary histories of double-clonal lineages. Here, we examine genetic variation and characterize the reproduction mode of P. longicornis populations sampled worldwide using microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA sequences to infer the ant's putative native range and the distribution of the double-clonal reproductive system. Analyses of global genetic variations indicate that the Indian subcontinent is a genetic diversity hotspot of this species, suggesting that P. longicornis probably originates from this geographical area. Our analyses revealed that both the inferred native and introduced populations exhibit double-clonal reproduction, with queens and males around the globe belonging to two separate, nonrecombining clonal lineages. By contrast, workers are highly heterozygous because they are first-generation interlineage hybrids. Overall, these data indicate a worldwide prevalence of double clonality in P. longicornis and support the prediction that the unusual genetic system may have pre-adapted this ant for global colonization by maintaining heterozygosity in the worker force and alleviating genetic bottlenecks.

Multiple Mating of Aphelinus asychis Enhance the Number of Female Progeny but Shorten the Longevity

Simple Summary

Aphelinus asychis Walker is an arrhenotocia endoparasitoid against the devastating vegetable pest Myzus persicae. Unmated Aphelinus asychis females only produce male progeny, and mated female adults produce male and female progeny. Because only female adults can kill the target pest by parasitism and feeding, the control efficiency of Aphelinus asychis was mainly affected by the percentage of female adults. We found that Aphelinus asychis females could mate multiple times to receive more sperm in their life span, which was beneficial for enhancing the number and percentage of female progeny. In addition, backcrossing is critical for population increase when the proportion of males is low. We also found that there was no significant difference in the population fitness of Aphelinus asychis between backcross and control treatments.

Abstract

The Aphelinus asychis female adult is an important arrhenotocous parthenogenesis parasitoid of Myzus persicae, and its reproductive mode is beneficial for the population continuation of A. asychis by way of multiple mating and backcross. To explore the effect of mating on the population fitness and control efficiency of A. asychis, its mating frequency and backcross were observed under laboratory conditions. The results showed that most matings in A. asychis involved four distinct stages: courtship, pre-copulatory, copulation, and post-copulatory behaviours. Only the duration of courtship increased significantly with an increase in copulation frequency for females, and the courtship duration of A. asychis females mated with different males were significantly shorter than those mated with the same male at the same mating times, which suggested that A. asychis females might prefer to mate with different males to enrich the genotype of their offspring. The total number of mummified aphids and the female and male longevity decreased significantly with an increase in mating frequency. On the contrary, female progenies increased significantly with an increase of mating frequency, suggesting that sperm limitation might occur in females when they only mated once. These results imply that females might prefer to receive more sperm by mating multiple times in their life span. In addition, we found that the intrinsic rate of increase (r) of A. asychis of the control group (0.2858 d⁻¹) was significantly greater than that in the backcross treatment (0.2687 d⁻¹). The finite killing rate (θ) of A. asychis of the control group was similar to that in the backcross treatment, which showed that this treatment had a negligible negative effect on the control efficiency of A. asychis. In conclusion, the results showed that multiple mating increased the number and proportion of A. asychis female progenies but shortened the longevity of female and male adults, while the negative effect of backcross on the control efficiency of A. asychis was negligible.

Origin, behaviour, and genetics of reproductive workers in an invasive ant

Background

Worker reproduction has an important influence on the social cohesion and efficiency of social insect colonies, but its role in the success of invasive ants has been neglected. We used observations of 233 captive colonies, laboratory experiments, and genetic analyses to investigate the conditions for worker reproduction in the invasive Anoplolepis gracilipes (yellow crazy ant) and its potential cost on interspecific defence. We determined the prevalence of worker production of males and whether it is triggered by queen absence; whether physogastric workers with enlarged abdomens are more likely to be reproductive, how normal workers and physogastric workers compare in their contributions to foraging and defence; and whether worker-produced males and males that could have been queen- or worker-produced differ in their size and heterozygosity.

Results

Sixty-six of our 233 captive colonies produced males, and in 25 of these, some males could only have been produced by workers. Colonies with more workers were more likely to produce males, especially for queenless colonies. The average number of days between the first appearance of eggs and adult males in our colonies was 54.1 ± 10.2 (mean ± SD, n = 20). In our laboratory experiment, queen removal triggered an increase in the proportion of physogastric workers. Physogastric workers were more likely to have yolky oocytes (37–54.9%) than normal workers (2–25.6%), which is an indicator of fertile or trophic egg production. Physogastric workers were less aggressive during interspecific aggression tests and foraged less than normal workers. The head width and wing length of worker-produced males were on average 4.0 and 4.3% greater respectively than those of males of undetermined source. Our microsatellite DNA analyses indicate that 5.5% of worker-produced males and 14.3% of males of undetermined source were heterozygous, which suggests the presence of diploid males and/or genetic mosaics in A. gracilipes.

Conclusions

Our experimental work provides crucial information on worker reproduction in A. gracilipes and its potential cost to colony defence. The ability of A. gracilipes workers to produce males in the absence of queens may also contribute to its success as an invasive species if intranidal mating can take place between virgin queens and worker-produced males.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12983-021-00392-2.

Sexually antagonistic selection promotes genetic divergence between males and females in an ant

Genetic diversity acts as a reservoir for potential adaptations, yet selection tends to reduce this diversity over generations. However, sexually antagonistic selection (SAS) may promote diversity by selecting different alleles in each sex. SAS arises when an allele is beneficial to one sex but harmful to the other. Usually, the evolution of sex chromosomes allows each sex to independently reach different optima, thereby circumventing the constraint of a shared autosomal genome. Because the X chromosome is found twice as often in females than males, it represents a hot spot for SAS, offering a refuge for recessive male-beneficial but female-costly alleles. Hymenopteran species do not have sex chromosomes; females are diploid and males are haploid, with sex usually determined by heterozygosity at the complementary sex-determining locus. For this reason, their entire genomes display an X-linked pattern, as every chromosome is found twice as often in females than in males, which theoretically predisposes them to SAS in large parts of their genome. Here we report an instance of sexual divergence in the Hymenoptera, a sexually reproducing group that lacks sex chromosomes. In the invasive ant Nylanderia fulva, a postzygotic SAS leads daughters to preferentially carry alleles from their mothers and sons to preferentially carry alleles from their grandfathers for a substantial region (∼3%) of the genome. This mechanism results in nearly all females being heterozygous at these regions and maintains diversity throughout the population, which may mitigate the effects of a genetic bottleneck following introduction to an exotic area and enhance the invasion success of this ant.

Production of Early Diploid Males by European Colonies of the Invasive Hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax

The invasive yellow-legged hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax was accidentally introduced in Europe in the early 2000s. As is the case in colonies of other wasp and hornet species, V. velutina colonies are known to produce sexuals (males and new queens) at the end of the summer. We show that early-stage colonies in French populations frequently produce males well before the usual reproductive period. The vast majority of the males produced are diploid, which is consistent with the loss of genetic diversity previously reported in introduced populations in France. Since males do not participate in colony activities, the production of early diploid males at the expense of workers is expected to hamper colony growth and, ultimately, decrease the expansion of the species in its invasive range in Europe.

A preliminary checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Andorra

Within the last decade, checklists of the ant fauna of several European countries have been published or updated. Nevertheless, no ant checklists have hitherto been published for the principality of Andorra, a small landlocked country located in the eastern part of the Pyrenees. This work presents a critical list of the ant species of Andorra based on a review of the literature and on the biological material we collected during several field campaigns conducted in Andorra since the year 2005. Seventy-five species belonging to 21 genera of Formicidae were recorded. Nine species were recorded for the first time in Andorra: Aphaenogaster gibbosa (Latreille, 1798), Camponotus lateralis (Olivier, 1792), Camponotus piceus (Leach, 1825), Formica exsecta Nylander, 1846, Lasius piliferus Seifert, 1992, Tapinoma madeirense Forel, 1895, Temnothorax lichtensteini (Bondroit, 1918), Temnothorax niger (Forel, 1894), Temnothorax nigriceps (Mayr, 1855). The most speciose genera were Formica Linnaeus, 1758 and Temnothorax Forel, 1890 with 14 and 12 species, respectively. The ant fauna of Andorra is mostly dominated by Central European species (some are typical cold climate specialists); however species belonging to the Mediterranean ant fauna were also found. This can be explained by the particular geographic situation of Andorra which is characterized by a high mountain Mediterranean climate.

Triploid bumblebees indicate a direct cost of inbreeding in fragmented populations

Hymenopteran species with single-locus complimentary sex-determination (sl-CSD) face an additional cost of inbreeding because of a loss of diversity at the sex-determining locus. Laboratory studies of a range of Hymenoptera have found that a small percentage of diploid males produce viable diploid sperm, and that if these males mate, then the resultant females produce triploid offspring that are sterile. Here, we use microsatellite markers to determine the frequency of triploid individuals of Bombus muscorum and B. jonellus in a model island system. Triploids were found in populations of both species. Observed triploid frequencies of up to 8% were detected, and estimated total frequencies peaked at 20% with respect to normal diploid workers. For both species, triploid frequency was negatively correlated with surrogates of population size, providing direct evidence for inbreeding in small populations. Populations limited to <∼15 km(2) of suitable habitat were particularly likely to harbour triploids. Estimated total triploid frequencies were higher in B. muscorum than in B. jonellus, perhaps due to the greater dispersal range of the latter species. Implications for the conservation of rare social hymenopterans are discussed.

Conservation genetics of neotropical pollinators revisited: microsatellite analysis suggests that diploid males are rare in orchid bees

Allozyme analyses have suggested that Neotropical orchid bee (Euglossini) pollinators are vulnerable because of putative high frequencies of diploid males, a result of loss of sex allele diversity in small hymenopteran populations with single locus complementary sex determination. Our analysis of 1010 males from 27 species of euglossine bees sampled across the Neotropics at 2–11 polymorphic microsatellite loci revealed only five diploid males at an overall frequency of 0.005 (95% CIs 0.002–0.010); errors through genetic nondetection of diploid males were likely small. In contrast to allozyme-based studies, we detected very weak or insignificant population genetic structure, even for a pair of populations >500 km apart, possibly accounting for low diploid male frequencies. Technical flaws in previous allozyme-based analyses have probably led to considerable overestimation of diploid male production in orchid bees. Other factors may have a more immediate impact on population persistence than the genetic load imposed by diploid males on these important Neotropical pollinators.

Contagious parthenogenesis, automixis, and a sex determination meltdown

Because of the twofold cost of sex, genes conferring asexual reproduction are expected to spread rapidly in sexual populations. However, in reality this simple prediction is often confounded by several complications observed in natural systems. Motivated by recent findings in the Cape honey bee and in the parasitoid wasp Lysiphlebus fabarum, we explore through mathematical models the spread of a recessive, parthenogenesis inducing allele in a haplodiploid population. The focus of these models is on the intricate interactions between the mode of parthenogenesis induction through automixis and complementary sex determination (CSD) systems. These interactions may result in asexual production of diploid male offspring and the spread of the parthenogenesis-inducing allele through these males. We demonstrate that if parthenogenetic females produce a substantial proportion of male offspring, this may prevent the parthenogenesis-inducing allele from spreading. However, this effect is weakened if these diploid males are at least partially fertile. We also predict a degradation of multilocus CSD systems during the spread of parthenogenesis, following which only a single polymorphic CSD locus is maintained. Finally, based on empirical parameter estimates from L. fabarum we predict that male production in parthenogens is unlikely to prevent the eventual loss of sexual reproduction in this system.