Conditional indirect genetic effects of caregivers on brood in the clonal raider ant|行为遗传学数据集|生态学数据集

Caregivers shape the rearing environment of their young. Consequently,
offspring traits are influenced by the genes of their caregivers via
indirect genetic effects (IGEs). However, the extent to which IGEs are
modulated by environmental factors, other than the genotype of social
partners (i.e., intergenomic epistasis), remains an open question. Here we
investigate how broods are influenced by the genotype of their caregivers
in the clonal raider ant, Ooceraea biroi, a species in which the genotype,
age, and number of both caregivers and brood can be experimentally
controlled. First, we used four clonal lines to establish colonies that
differed only in the genotype of caregivers and measured effects on
foraging activity, as well as IGEs on brood phenotypes. In a second
experiment, we tested whether these IGEs are conditional on the age and
number of caregivers. We found that caregiver genotype affected the
feeding and foraging activity of colonies, and influenced the rate of
development, survival, body size, and caste fate of brood. Caregiver
genotype interacted with other factors to influence the rate of
development and survival of brood, demonstrating that IGEs can be
conditional. Thus, we provide an empirical example of phenotypes being
influenced by IGE-by-environment interactions beyond intergenomic
epistasis, highlighting that IGEs of caregivers/parents are alterable by
factors other than their brood’s/offspring’s genotype.