Trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore Building, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
- Social Evolution Unit, Switzerland
Figures
Figure 1
Trophic egg production is widespread in ants.
Simplified phylogenetic tree of ant subfamilies redrawn after Romiguier et al., 2022. The number of species with documented trophic egg production by queens, workers, or both castes is indicated for each subfamily. The question mark indicates that it is unclear whether trophic eggs can be produced by queens (in Lasius niger, trophic eggs are produced by workers and possibly queens, see Supplementary file 1, table 1). Details on the species and related references can be found in Supplementary file 1, table 1.
Figure 2
Morphology and embryonic development of eggs laid by P. rugosus queens.
Morphology of viable (A) and trophic (D) eggs. Fluorescence images with DAPI-counterstained nuclei showing embryonic development of viable eggs at approximately 25 hr (B) and 65 hr (C). For trophic eggs, there was no embryonic development at 25 hr (E) nor at 65 hr (F).
Figure 3
Egg-laying sequences from 11 P. rugosus queens.
Every row shows the sequence of viable (V) and trophic (T) eggs laid by a given queen (queen ID in the orange cell). Each egg-laying session lasted 10 hr. The yellow squares indicate the intervals (16 hr to several days) between egg-laying sessions.
Figure 4
Content of viable and trophic eggs.
Concentration (± standard error) of protein (A), triglycerides (B), glycogen (C), and glucose (D) in viable and trophic eggs. Each dot represents the average of the two replicates per colony. *** Indicates a p < 0.001.
Figure 5
MiRNA and tRNA content of viable and trophic eggs.
First two principal components (PC1 and PC2) explaining size distribution variation for (A) miRNA and (B) tRNA across egg samples, with viable eggs in gray dots and trophic eggs in black triangles. Ellipses enclose each of the egg type groups.
Figure 6
Caste fate and survival of larvae in the presence and absence of trophic eggs.
(A) Percentage (± standard error) of queens among the larvae that developed to the pupal stage in colonies without (gray) or with (black) trophic eggs. (B) Relationship between the percentage of larvae who developed into queens and the survival of larvae (percentage) between the larval to pupal stages. *** indicated a p < 0.001.
Tables
Table 1
Wald–Wolfowitz runs tests on the queen’s egg sequence.
Significant p-values (corrected for multiple testing) indicate that queens do not lay viable and trophic eggs in a random sequence.
| Queen ID | p-value for egg sequence | p-value of random sequence | Number of eggs per sequence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 338 | 4.1 × 10–11 | 0.419 | 94 |
| 117 | 4.3 × 10–07 | 0.567 | 63 |
| 173 | 1.7 × 10–03 | 0.755 | 92 |
| 303 | 4.8 × 10–13 | 0.765 | 110 |
| 215 | 9.8 × 10–11 | 0.292 | 70 |
| 120 | 1.4 × 10–05 | 0.518 | 75 |
| 12B | 1.9 × 10–03 | 0.298 | 38 |
| 316 | 3.4 × 10–09 | 0.737 | 93 |
| 193 | 4.3 × 10–12 | 0.655 | 101 |
| 150 | 1.4 × 10–10 | 0.630 | 62 |
| 125 | 1.5 × 10–05 | 0.404 | 58 |
Additional files
-
Supplementary file 1
Supplementary tables.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/86899/elife-86899-supp1-v1.docx
-
MDAR checklist
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/86899/elife-86899-mdarchecklist1-v1.pdf
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Trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus
eLife 12:RP86899.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.86899.4
