Abstract
Genetic relatedness is thought to be an important graphics. factor in the development of socialite. Microsatellite markers are ideal to estimate relatedness in social insects due to their highly polymorphism. In this study, we developed five polymorphic microsatellite markers with alleles varying from 4-7 and expected heterozygosity ranging from 0.53-0.82. Analysis of progeny studies from ten monogyny colonies and 517 polygyne queens confirmed that microsatellite markers were inherited in Mendelian fashion, codominant, and selectively neutral. Estimates of relatedness relatedness among queens within using five microsatellite markers revealed that polygyne colonies and among queens within aggregated groups in a laboratory colony are not significantly different from zero. There is no certain relationship between number of queens and relatedness among queens within colonies. Relatedness is zero even in the smallest colonies. The near zero relatedness of queens within aggregated groups in the laboratory colonies may indicate that low relatedness of queens within colonies is not caused only by the changes of environment. Genetic factors may also play an important role in the evolution of the red imported fire ants. Previous studies showed that the introduced fire ants lost many alleles not only in microsatellite but also in allozyme markers due to the severe founder event. The loss of variation in kin-selecting loci may favor the polygyne forms in the USA.
Lu, Lanying (1998). Genetic relatedness of polygyne queens in the red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta determined by microsatellite analysis. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1998 -THESIS -L8.