Spite

Question 1

The Gp-9 locus is an odourant binding protein. It has a large non-recombining region due to an inversion, which is why bb is lethal. Haploid makes are able to avoid death. Who found this?

Answer 1

Wang et al. 2013

Question 2

Bacteria produce bacteriocins. Related individuals are immune. Non-related individuals will die. Toxin production is costly and the actor cell commits suicide. Toxin production facilitates survival of clones as it removes competitors. Who found this?

Answer 2

Gardner et al., 2004

Question 3

In polyembryonic parasitoid wasps (Copidosoma floridanum) male and female eggs laid inside a host undergo clonal expansion. Soldier females will attack non-related individuals and their brothers. Relatedness to brothers is 0.25 (haplodiploidy) whereas that to clonal sisters is 1. The negative benefit to males is that they die. The cost to the soldier is that she is sterile. The solider aids survival of her sisters as she removes competition. Who found this?

Answer 3

Gardner et al., 2007

Question 4

Solenopsis invicta or the red fire ant can live in mono or polygyne colonies. The Gp-9 locus is controlled by two alleles, B and b. In polygyne colonies joining Bb queens are accepted, BB queens are killed and bb queens die anyway. Bb workers conduct the attacks on BB queens. They are more related to Bb queens and so are spiteful to BB queens. Workers often die in these attacks. The Gp-9 locus is therefore thought of as a ‘green beard’ gene. Who found this?

Answer 4

Keller and Ross, 1998