post midterm Flashcards
Two types of caste differentiation
Queen worker differentiation- difference in queen size
dimorphism and caste differences among workers- difference in workers between castes
What hormone influences the variation in the timing of decision points in caste determines among specie of social insects
The juvinile hormone- which is the switch between queen and worker (the absence of this hormone means the insect will be a worker
In honey bees, fertile queens develop from larvae fed a complex diet called____. And what was the exclusive driver in queen bee determination
Royal jelly and one protein in royal jelly, royalactin was deemed to be the exclusive driver of queen bee determination
Newly hatched larva can either be a queen or a worker. If the larva is fed a lot of royal jelly, it will become a queen. What characteristics does this mean for the queen
Increase in body growth, ovary development, queen organs and a decrease in neurogenesis, and worker organs
Newly hatched larva can either be a queen or a worker. If the larva is fed a little bit of royal jelly, it will become a worker. What characteristics does this mean for the worker
- Increase in neurogenesis and worker organs
- decrease in body growth, ovary development, and queen organs.
- It actually means that the workers are more neuro developed than the queens
The entire queen development from a fertilized egg to an adult takes ____
16-17 days
Worker emerge as adults around ____ days later than queens
5 days, this could be attributed to the neuronal development difference in workers vs queens
What acs as an external cue that direct epigenetic programming of postembryonic development in a caste specific manner via metabolic flux
Larval feeding regimes
Describe the characteristics of a supersedure cell
Its a cell where the queen undergoes metamorphosis in a special sealed cell that was initially full of royal jelly. The royal jelly is also hypothesize to also keeping the queen inside the cell due to its high viscosity
Differentiate between monomorphic castes and dimorphic castes
monomorphic - the queen and workers are the same size
dimorphic - the queen is larger than the workers, this is often seen in eusocial insects
Describe how adult differentiation works in monomorphic castes
Caste differences are determined later in life via social interactions that occur after adults emerge as callows. Interactions and food exchange can affect differential expression of core toolkit genes involved in nutrient signalling and metabolism. – this leads to same size insects, but behaviorally and physiologically distinct adult females
Differentiate between subordinates and dominates in a monomorphic caste
Subordinates- functional workers with small ovaries with no eggs.
Dominates- functional egg laying queens with large ovaries
Describe how adult differentiation works in dimorphic castes
Queen and worker caste differences are determines early in life. Social interaction (physical contact and feeding) set up differences in the expression of core ‘toolkit’ genes related to nutritional signaling. This leads to reproductive queens and nonreproductive workers (dimorphic adults)
What are callows
Describes an adult insect in a monomorphic caste prior to the determination of queen or worker
What are the two types of worker castes
Polyethism and morphologically different castes
What is polyethism
Temporal variation in workers tasks as they age (honey bees, ants)
Size =_____, molded by natural selection
Emergent property
In the diverse genus Pheidole, the wingless worker caste has evolved into two morphologically distinct sub castes ___&____
Small headed minor workers and large headed soldiers
Where do winds develop from in populations of cells in larvae? And which in a population are wingless and winged
Wing imaginary discs. And the queens and males develop wings, and thus the workers and soldiers are wingless but the imaginal discs appear during soldier development
Describe the unique habits of leaf cutter ants and the importance of their fungus
The ants can not survive without their fungus, Leucocoprinus. The workers bring back fresh vegetation, which is then chewed into small pieces until it becomes pulp. Workers then apply fecal droplets which contain digestive enzymes which then become substrates for the fungus gardens. The ants also use an apparently mutualistic bacterium that protects the fungus garden against parasites
Three genetic systems where the sperm and egg genome have different roles or fates
- Hybridogenesis- females of hybrid origin produce gametes bearing only the maternal genome, which are then fertilized with the sperm of the paternal species resulting in hybridogen
- Social hybridogenesis- reproductive system where two genetic lineages coexist within each population. Queens mate with males from both lineages. Pure lineage matings produce new queens while interlineage matings produce workers.
- Androgenesis-Offspring ONLY inherit the fathers genes
What is hybridogenis
its if clonally inherited maternal part and a sexually inherited paternal part
eggs are produced with only the female genetic materical and the males are only used to fertizlize
Epigenetics
Study of heritable changes in the gene expression not involving changes in DNA base pairs
How is the phenotypic plasticity explained in eusocial insects?
Parental phenotypes influence the social status of offspring not through genetic inheritance but through genetic imprinting – showcased through Reticulitermes speratus (termites)
