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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology
Thelytokous parthenogenesis in unmated queen honeybees (Apis mellifera capensis): Central fusion and high recombination rates
Genetics, Volume 180, No. 1, Year 2008
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Description
The subspecies of honeybee indigenous to the Cape region of South Africa, Apis mellifera capensis, is unique because a high proportion of unmated workers can lay eggs that develop into females via thelytokous parthenogenesis involving central fusion of meiotic products. This ability allows pseudoclonal lineages of workers to establish, which are presently widespread as reproductive parasites within the honeybee populations of South Africa. Successful long-term propagation of a parthenogen requires the maintenance of heterozygosity at the sex locus, which in honeybees must be heterozygous for the expression of female traits. Thus, in successful lineages of parasitic workers, recombination events are reduced by an order of magnitude relative to meiosis in queens of other honeybee subspecies. Here we show that in unmated A. m. capensis queens treated to induce oviposition, no such reduction in recombination occurs, indicating that thelytoky and reduced recombination are not controlled by the same gene. Our virgin queens were able to lay both arrhenotokous male-producing haploid eggs and thelytokous female-producing diploid eggs at the same time, with evidence that they have some voluntary control over which kind of egg was laid. If so, they are able to influence the kind of second-division meiosis that occurs in their eggs post partum. Copyright © 2008 by the Genetics Society of America.
Authors & Co-Authors
Oldroyd, Benjamin P.
Australia, Sydney
The University of Sydney
Allsopp, Michael H.
South Africa, Pretoria
Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria
Gloag, Rosalyn S.
Australia, Sydney
The University of Sydney
Lim, Julianne
Australia, Sydney
The University of Sydney
Jordan, Lyndon Alexander
Australia, Sydney
The University of Sydney
Beekman, Madeleine
Australia, Sydney
The University of Sydney
Statistics
Citations: 51
Authors: 6
Affiliations: 2
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1534/genetics.108.090415
ISSN:
00166731
e-ISSN:
00166731
Research Areas
Genetics And Genomics
Sexual And Reproductive Health
Study Locations
South Africa
Participants Gender
Male
Female