Search results for "recognition cues"

Data from: Odor diversity decreases with inbreeding in the ant Hypoponera opacior

2016

Reduction in heterozygosity can lead to inbreeding depression. This loss of genetic variability especially affects diverse loci, such as immune genes or those encoding recognition cues. In social insects, nestmates are recognized by their odor, i.e. their cuticular hydrocarbon profile. Genes underlying hydrocarbon production are thought to be under balancing selection. If so, inbreeding should result in a loss of chemical diversity. We show here that cuticular hydrocarbon diversity decreases with inbreeding. Studying an ant with a facultative inbreeding lifestyle we found inbred workers to exhibit both a lower number of hydrocarbons and less diverse, that is, less evenly-proportioned profil…