Queen succession through asexual reproduction in termites.

abstract

• The evolution and maintenance of sexual reproduction may involve important tradeoffs because asexual reproduction can double an individual's contribution to the gene pool but reduces diversity. Moreover, in social insects the maintenance of genetic diversity among workers may be important for colony growth and survival. We identified a previously unknown termite breeding system in which both parthenogenesis and sexual reproduction are conditionally used. Queens produce their replacements asexually but use normal sexual reproduction to produce other colony members. These findings show how eusociality can lead to extraordinary reproductive systems and provide important insights into the advantages and disadvantages of sex.

authors

• Vargo, Edward

published proceedings

• Science

altmetric score

• 79.128

author list (cited authors)

• Matsuura, K., Vargo, E. L., Kawatsu, K., Labadie, P. E., Nakano, H., Yashiro, T., & Tsuji, K.

citation count

• 117

complete list of authors

• Matsuura, Kenji||Vargo, Edward L||Kawatsu, Kazutaka||Labadie, Paul E||Nakano, Hiroko||Yashiro, Toshihisa||Tsuji, Kazuki

publication date

• March 2009

publisher

• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)  Publisher

published in

• Science  Journal

keywords

• Animals
• Female
• Genetic Variation
• Genotype
• Heterozygote
• Homozygote
• Isoptera
• Male
• Microsatellite Repeats
• Parthenogenesis
• Reproduction
• Social Behavior

PubMed Central ID

• 19325106

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1126/science.1169702

start page

• 1687

end page

• 1687

volume

• 323

issue

• 5922

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1169702