日本冈山大学副教授松浦健二等研究人员在27日的《科学》杂志网络版上发表论文说，黄胸散白蚁的蚁后具有无性繁殖的能力，蚁后的继承者就是由蚁后单性生殖造就的。
人们通常认为，一个白蚁群落是由一对原始型蚁后和蚁王交配产卵而逐渐发展壮大的。但松浦健二等研究人员发现，黄胸散白蚁群落中只有工蚁、兵蚁和生殖蚁才是有性繁殖产生的后代，决定蚁群种族延续的新蚁后实际上是老蚁后单性繁殖产生的，并非蚁后和蚁王交配所产。
研究人员发现，蚁后所产卵中只有大约2%－5%是单性生殖产生的，这些无性繁殖产生的后代是新一代蚁后的储备。他们分析认为，黄胸散白蚁的这种双重繁殖方式有利于种群的繁殖和延续，其中无性生殖能有效地将蚁后的自身基因尽可能多地遗传给后代，而有性繁殖则能保证蚁巢内的遗传多样性。
这是科学家首次发现白蚁蚁后具有无性繁殖能力，它对了解白蚁社会的繁衍和进化有很大帮助，也将有助于提高防治蚁害的技术水平。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Science 27 March 2009:DOI: 10.1126/science.1169702
Queen Succession Through Asexual Reproduction in Termites
Kenji Matsuura,1* Edward L. Vargo,2 Kazutaka Kawatsu,3 Paul E. Labadie,2 Hiroko Nakano,1 Toshihisa Yashiro,1 Kazuki Tsuji4
The evolution and maintenance of sexual reproduction may involve important tradeoffs because asexual reproduction can double an individual's contribution to the gene pool but reduces diversity. Moreover, in social insects the maintenance of genetic diversity among workers may be important for colony growth and survival. We identified a previously unknown termite breeding system in which both parthenogenesis and sexual reproduction are conditionally used. Queens produce their replacements asexually but use normal sexual reproduction to produce other colony members. These findings show how eusociality can lead to extraordinary reproductive systems and provide important insights into the advantages and disadvantages of sex.
1 Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Graduate School of Environmental Science, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan.
2 Department of Entomology and W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695–7613, USA.
3 Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
4 Faculty of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 900-0213, Japan.
