Evolution of a supergene that regulates a trans-species social polymorphism

Abstract

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Maternal effect killing by a supergene controlling ant social organization

“…Strikingly, in both systems a killer is hidden in the social supergene, and selfish drive by a nonrecombining haplotype favors the spread of multiple-queen colonies. Yet, in spite of drive, these supergene haplotypes did not reach fixation over extended evolutionary periods (34,38,39). The long-term persistence of these polymorphisms indicates that they are balanced by antagonistic selective pressures at the gene, individual and group levels.…”

The social supergene dates back to the speciation time of two Solenopsis fire ant species

“…Recently, Yan et al 20 conducted a phylogenetic dating analysis of eight Solenopsis species using five conserved genes. They estimated the radiation time of the social polymorphic species at 0.5 (0.1–1.1) MYA, which is in the lower range of our abovementioned estimate for the speciation of S. invicta and S. richteri .…”

“…This resulted in the accumulation of deleterious mutation and repetitive elements in Sb , as in Y chromosomes 17 – 19 . In comprehensive molecular analyses, each of the six known socially polymorphic Solenopsis species was found to harbor two haplotypes of the supergene 19 , 20 . Moreover, the Sb haplotype was found to form a monophyletic clade, suggesting it is a derived haplotype that has evolved in a common ancestor of these species 20 .…”

High-Quality Genome Assembly and Annotation of the California Harvester AntPogonomyrmex californicus(Buckley, 1867)

“…several queens cooperate in colony founding after their mating flights and continue to coexist in mature colonies (Rissing et al 2000;Johnson 2004;Shaffer et al 2016). The Red Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsis invicta and several other Formica ant species have a similar social polymorphism, which has been shown to be due to a supergene (Wang et al 2013;Yan et al 2020). This discovery was only possible by Nextgen Sequencing and the availability of genomic information for these species.…”