Data from: Androgenesis is a maternal trait in the invasive ant Wasmannia auropunctata

Androgenesis is the production of an offspring containing exclusively the
nuclear genome of the fathering male, via the maternal eggs. This unusual
mating system is generally considered as a male trait, giving to
androgenetic males a substantial fitness advantage over their sexually
reproducing relatives. We here provide the first empirical study of the
evolutionary outcomes of androgenesis in a haplo-diploid organism: the
invasive ant Wasmannia auropunctata. Some of the populations of this
species have a classical haplo-diploid sexual mating system. In other
populations, females and males are produced through parthenogenesis and
androgenesis, respectively, whereas workers are produced sexually. We
conducted laboratory reciprocal-cross experiments with reproductive
individuals from both types of populations and analyzed their progenies
with genetic markers, to determine the respective contribution of males
and females on the production of androgenetic males. We found that
androgenesis was a parthenogenetic female trait. A population genetic
study conducted in natura confirmed the parthenogenetic female origin of
androgenesis, with the identification of introgression events of sexual
male genotypes into androgenetic/parthenogenetic lineages. We argue that
by producing males via androgenesis, parthenogenetic queen lineages may
increase and/or maintain their adaptive potential, whilst maintaining the
integrity of their own genome, by occasionally acquiring new male genetic
material and avoiding inbreeding depression within the sexually produced
worker cast.

雄核发育（Androgenesis）是指通过母体卵子产生仅含父本雄性核基因组后代的过程。这种特殊的交配系统通常被认为是雄性性状，使雄核发育雄性相较于其有性繁殖的同类具有显著的适合度优势。本文首次对单倍体-二倍体生物（haplo-diploid organism）中雄核发育的进化结果展开实证研究，研究对象为入侵蚂蚁Wasmannia auropunctata。该物种的部分种群具有经典的单倍体-二倍体有性交配系统，而其他种群中雌性和雄性分别通过孤雌生殖（parthenogenesis）和雄核发育产生，工蚁则通过有性繁殖产生。我们利用两种种群的繁殖个体开展实验室正反交实验，并通过遗传标记分析其后代，以确定雄性和雌性在雄核发育雄性产生过程中的各自贡献。研究发现，雄核发育是孤雌生殖雌性的性状。野外种群遗传学研究证实了雄核发育的孤雌生殖雌性起源，并鉴定出有性繁殖雄性基因型向雄核发育/孤雌生殖谱系的基因渗入（introgression）事件。我们认为，通过雄核发育产生雄性，孤雌生殖蚁后谱系可通过偶尔获取新的雄性遗传物质并避免有性繁殖工蚁群体内的近交衰退（inbreeding depression），从而提高和/或维持其适应潜力，同时保持自身基因组的完整性。