title: Epistasis between adults and larvae underlies caste fate and fitness in a clonal ant.
abstract: In social species, the phenotype and fitness of an individual depend in part on the genotype of its social partners. However, how these indirect genetic effects affect genotype fitness in competitive situations is poorly understood in animal societies. We therefore studied phenotypic plasticity and fitness of two clones of the ant Cerapachys biroi in monoclonal and chimeric colonies. Here we show that, while clone B has lower fitness in isolation, surprisingly, it consistently outcompetes clone A in chimeras. The reason is that, in chimeras, clone B produces more individuals specializing in reproduction rather than cooperative tasks, behaving like a facultative social parasite. A cross-fostering experiment shows that the proportion of these individuals depends on intergenomic epistasis between larvae and nursing adults, explaining the flexible allocation strategy of clone B. Our results suggest that intergenomic epistasis can be the proximate mechanism for social parasitism in ants, revealing striking analogies between social insects and social microbes.
authors.affiliation: 1] Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée, EA4443, Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 99 avenue J.B. Clément, Villetaneuse 93430, France [2] Laboratoire Evolution, Génomes et Spéciation, CNRS-UPR 9034, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex 91198, France.
authors.forename: Serafino
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Teseo
authors.affiliation: 1] Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée, EA4443, Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 99 avenue J.B. Clément, Villetaneuse 93430, France [2] Departamento de Biologia, FFCLRP, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, 14040-901, Ribeirão Preto - SP, Brazil [3] Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 1721, Cidade Universitária, São Paulo 05508-030, Brazil.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Châline
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée, EA4443, Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 99 avenue J.B. Clément, Villetaneuse 93430, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jaisson
authors.affiliation: 1] Laboratory of Insect Social Evolution, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA [2] Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel J C
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kronauer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D004843:Epistasis, Genetic / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology