Title: | Mating status and the evolution of eusociality: Oogenesis is independent of mating status in the solitary bee Osmia bicornis |
Author(s): | Van Eeckhoven J; Duncan EJ; |
Address: | "Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom. Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom. Electronic address: E.J.Duncan@leeds.ac.uk" |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2019.104003 |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1879-1611 (Electronic) 0022-1910 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "The fundamental trait underlying eusociality is the reproductive division of labour. In honeybees (Apis mellifera), queens lay eggs while workers forage, defend and care for brood. The division of labour is maintained by pheromones including queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) produced by the queen. QMP constrains reproduction in adult honeybee workers, but in the absence of their queen workers can activate their ovaries and, although they cannot mate, they lay haploid male eggs. The reproductive ground plan hypothesis suggests that reproductive constraint may have evolved by co-opting mechanisms of reproductive control in solitary ancestors. In many insects mating is required to activate or accelerate oogenesis. Here, we use the solitary bee Osmia bicornis (Megachilidae) to test whether reproductive constraint evolved from ancestral control of reproduction by mating status. We present a structural study of the O. bicornis ovary, and compare key stages of oogenesis with honeybee workers. Importantly, we show that mating does not affect any aspect of the reproductive physiology of O. bicornis. We therefore conclude that mechanisms governing reproductive constraint in honeybees were unlikely to have been co-opted from mechanisms pertaining to mating status" |
Keywords: | "Animals Bees/*physiology Biological Evolution Female Oogenesis/physiology Ovary/*cytology/physiology Reproduction/*physiology Sexual Behavior, Animal/physiology Social Behavior Apis mellifera Germarium Mating Osmia bicornis Ovariole Ovary Reproduction Rep;" |
Notes: | "MedlineVan Eeckhoven, Jens Duncan, Elizabeth J eng WT104918MA/WT_/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2019/12/31 J Insect Physiol. 2020 Feb-Mar; 121:104003. doi: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2019.104003. Epub 2019 Dec 26" |