Journal article
Caste determination in a polyembryonic wasp involves inheritance of germ cells
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.101(27), pp.10095-10100
07/06/2004
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/109481
PMCID: PMC454170
PMID: 15226498
Abstract
Social insects are characterized by the development of castes in which some colony members reproduce whereas others function as altruistic helpers. The conditional switch controlling caste formation usually involves environmental stimuli that act on processes that regulate development of individuals. Unlike other social species, embryos of polyembryonic wasps develop clonally to produce large numbers of genetically identical offspring and two morphologically distinct castes. All embryos in a clone exist in an identical environment, the host, yet develop into either reproductive larvae that mature into adult wasps or soldier larvae whose function is defense. Here, we report that caste determination in
Copidosoma floridanum
involves inheritance of germ cells. Expression of a
C. floridanum
homolog (
Cf-vas
) of the germ cell marker Vasa indicated that the B
4
blastomere in four cell-stage embryos is specified as a primordial germ cell. Vas expression later in development further indicated that embryos developing into reproductive larvae possess primordial germ cells whereas embryos developing into soldier larvae do not. Ablation of the B
4
blastomere resulted in most broods containing only soldiers whereas ablation of other blastomeres produced broods containing both castes. These results indicate that soldier larvae are obligately sterile and reveal a previously unknown role for germ cells in caste formation.
Metrics
6 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Caste determination in a polyembryonic wasp involves inheritance of germ cells
- Creators
- David M Donnell - Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602; andLaura S Corley - Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602; andGang Chen - Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602; andMichael R Strand - Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602; and
- Publication Details
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.101(27), pp.10095-10100
- Academic Unit
- Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Identifiers
- 99900547400601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article