scholarly journals Dissecting ant recognition systems in the age of genomics

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 20130416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil D. Tsutsui
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Biology ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Genome Sequences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Colony Recognition ◽  
Recognition Systems

Hamilton is probably best known for his seminal work demonstrating the role of kin selection in social evolution. His work made it clear that, for individuals to direct their altruistic behaviours towards appropriate recipients (kin), mechanisms must exist for kin recognition. In the social insects, colonies are typically comprised of kin, and colony recognition cues are used as proxies for kinship cues. Recent years have brought rapid advances in our understanding of the genetic and molecular mechanisms that are used for this process. Here, I review some of the most notable advances, particularly the contributions from recent ant genome sequences and molecular biology.

scholarly journals The competitive advantage of institutional reward

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1899) ◽  
pp. 20190001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yali Dong ◽  
Tatsuya Sasaki ◽  
Boyu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Social Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Group Fitness ◽  
Cooperation Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Stable Equilibria ◽  
Decision Errors ◽  
Reward And Punishment

Sustaining cooperation among unrelated individuals is a fundamental challenge in biology and the social sciences. In human society, this problem can be solved by establishing incentive institutions that reward cooperators and punish free-riders. Most of the previous studies have focused on which incentives promote cooperation best. However, a higher cooperation level does not always imply higher group fitness, and only incentives that lead to higher fitness can survive in social evolution. In this paper, we compare the efficiencies of three types of institutional incentives, namely, reward, punishment, and a mixture of reward and punishment, by analysing the group fitness at the stable equilibria of evolutionary dynamics. We find that the optimal institutional incentive is sensitive to decision errors. When there is no error, a mixture of reward and punishment can lead to high levels of cooperation and fitness. However, for intermediate and large errors, reward performs best, and one should avoid punishment. The failure of punishment is caused by two reasons. First, punishment cannot maintain a high cooperation level. Second, punishing defectors almost always reduces the group fitness. Our findings highlight the role of reward in human cooperation. In an uncertain world, the institutional reward is not only effective but also efficient.

scholarly journals Does kin selection moderate sexual conflict in Drosophila ?

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1813) ◽  
pp. 20151417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam K. Chippindale ◽  
Meredith Berggren ◽  
Joshua H. M. Alpern ◽  
Robert Montgomerie
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Fruit Flies ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Laboratory Populations ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
Experimental Findings ◽  
Unrelated Male

Two recent studies provide provocative experimental findings about the potential influence of kin recognition and cooperation on the level of sexual conflict in Drosophila melanogaster . In both studies, male fruit flies apparently curbed their mate-harming behaviours in the presence of a few familiar or related males, suggesting some form of cooperation mediated by kin selection. In one study, the reduction in agonistic behaviour by brothers apparently rendered them vulnerable to dramatic loss of paternity share when competing with an unrelated male. If these results are robust and generalizable, fruit flies could be a major new focus for the experimental study of kin selection and social evolution. In our opinion, however, the restrictive conditions required for male cooperation to be adaptive in this species make it unlikely to evolve. We investigated these phenomena in two different populations of D. melanogaster using protocols very similar to those in the two previous studies. Our experiments show no evidence for a reduction in mate harm based upon either relatedness or familiarity between males, and no reduction in male reproductive success when two brothers are in the presence of an unfamiliar, unrelated, ‘foreign’ male. Thus, the reduction of sexual conflict owing to male cooperation does not appear to be a general feature of the species, at least under domestication, and these contrasting results call for further investigation: in new populations, in the field and in the laboratory populations in which these phenomena have been reported.

scholarly journals A RESPONSABILIDADE SOCIAL DA EMPRESA E A CIDADANIA NA PARTICIPAÇÃO DEMOCRÁTICA

Percurso ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (29) ◽  
pp. 261
Author(s):  
Leandro Souza ROSA
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Ethical Responsibility ◽  
Democratic Participation ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
The Social

RESUMOEste artigo analisa a responsabilidade social e ética da empresa, que não se limita a gerar empregos e pagar impostos para criar o lucro, mas também participa ativamente da sociedade, já que o Estado possui uma demanda maior do que consegue suprir e as empresas podem desempenhar o papel de agentes de grandes transformações na vida dos indivíduos. Para tanto, examinou-se a concepção da função social no Estado Democrático de Direito, bem como o instituto da responsabilidade social, cujas diretrizes baseiam-se na cidadania por meio da participação democrática, de modo que o modelo que melhor se enquadraria nesse sistema é o da democracia deliberativa, conforme se demonstra. Assim, por meio de exemplos concretos, buscou-se demonstrar que a empresa pode desenvolver a participação democrática para se envolver no processo decisório e fomentar a evolução social. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Empresa; Responsabilidade Social; Cidadania; Democracia. ABSTRACTThis article analyzes the social and ethical responsibility of the company, which not only generates jobs and pay taxes to create profit, but also actively participates in society, since the State has a greater demand than it can supply and companies can play the role of agents of great transformations in the life of individuals. For this, the conception of the social function in the Democratic State of Law, as well as the institute of social responsibility, whose guidelines are based on citizenship through democratic participation, was examined, so that the model that would fit best in this system is that of deliberative democracy, as demonstrated. Thus, through concrete examples, it was tried to demonstrate that the company can develop the democratic participation to be involved in the decision-making process and to foment the social evolution. KEYWORDS: Company; Social Responsibility; Citizenship; Democracy.

scholarly journals The polar Ras-like GTPase MglA activates type IV pilus via SgmX to enable twitching motility inMyxococcus xanthus

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (45) ◽  
pp. 28366-28373
Author(s):  
Romain Mercier ◽  
Sarah Bautista ◽  
Maëlle Delannoy ◽  
Margaux Gibert ◽  
Annick Guiseppi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Small Gtpase ◽  
Extracellular Dna ◽  
Host Cells ◽  
Twitching Motility ◽  
Cellular Functions ◽  
Spatial Regulation ◽  
Type Iv ◽  
The Social

Type IV pili (Tfp) are highly conserved macromolecular structures that fulfill diverse cellular functions, such as adhesion to host cells, the import of extracellular DNA, kin recognition, and cell motility (twitching). Outstandingly, twitching motility enables a poorly understood process by which highly coordinated groups of hundreds of cells move in cooperative manner, providing a basis for multicellular behaviors, such as biofilm formation. In the social bacteriaMyxococcus xanthus, we know that twitching motility is under the dependence of the small GTPase MglA, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Here we show that MglA complexed to GTP recruits a newly characterized Tfp regulator, termed SgmX, to activate Tfp machines at the bacterial cell pole. This mechanism also ensures spatial regulation of Tfp, explaining how MglA switching provokes directional reversals. This discovery paves the way to elucidate how polar Tfp machines are regulated to coordinate multicellular movements, a conserved feature in twitching bacteria.

The details of food-sharing interactions – their cost in social prestige

2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 570-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amotz Zahavi
Keyword(s):  
Kin Selection ◽  
Reciprocal Altruism ◽  
Food Sharing ◽  
Evolutionary Models ◽  
Costly Signaling ◽  
Social Prestige ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gains And Losses

I agree with Gurven that costly signaling can explain food-sharing phenomena. However, costly signaling may also explain the role of food sharing in deterring rivals. Details of food-sharing interactions may reveal gains and losses in the social prestige of the interacting parties. The evolutionary models of kin selection and of reciprocal altruism are unstable and should be avoided.

scholarly journals Evolutionary transitions toward pair living in nonhuman primates as stepping stones toward more complex societies

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. eaay1276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Kappeler ◽  
Luca Pozzi
Keyword(s):  
Social Evolution ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Stepping Stones ◽  
Evolutionary Transitions ◽  
Social Classification ◽  
The Social ◽  
Living Species ◽  
Phylogenetic Hypotheses

Nonhuman primate societies vary tremendously in size and composition, but how and why evolutionary transitions among different states occurred remains highly controversial. In particular, how many times pair living evolved and the social states of the ancestors of pair- and group-living species remains contentious. We examined evolutionary transitions in primate social evolution by using new, independent categorizations of sociality and different phylogenetic hypotheses with a vastly expanded dataset. Using Bayesian phylogenetic comparative methods, we consistently found the strongest support for a model that invokes frequent transitions between solitary ancestors and pair-living descendants, with the latter giving rise to group-living species. This result was robust to systematic variation in social classification, sample size, and phylogeny. Our analyses therefore indicate that pair living was a stepping stone in the evolution of structurally more complex primate societies, a result that bolsters the role of kin selection in social evolution.

scholarly journals The past, present and future of Dictyostelium as a model system

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (8-9-10) ◽  
pp. 321-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Bozzaro
Keyword(s):  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Human Genes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Microbial Infections ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Soil Amoeba

The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum has been a preferred model organism during the last 50 years, particularly for the study of cell motility and chemotaxis, phagocytosis and macropinocytosis, intercellular adhesion, pattern formation, caspase-independent cell death and more recently autophagy and social evolution. Being a soil amoeba and professional phagocyte, thus exposed to a variety of potential pathogens, D. discoideum has also proven to be a powerful genetic and cellular model for investigating host-pathogen interactions and microbial infections. The finding that the Dictyostelium genome harbours several homologs of human genes responsible for a variety of diseases has stimulated their analysis, providing new insights into the mechanism of action of the encoded proteins and in some cases into the defect underlying the disease. Recent technological developments have covered the genetic gap between mammals and non-mammalian model organisms, challenging the modelling role of the latter. Is there a future for Dictyostelium discoideum as a model organism?

scholarly journals No evidence that relatedness or familiarity modulate male harm in wild Drosophila melanogaster

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Marquez-Rosado ◽  
Clara García-Có ◽  
Claudia Londoño-Nieto ◽  
Pau Carazo
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Male Competition ◽  
Natural Conditions ◽  
Population Average ◽  
In The Wild

Sexual selection frequently promotes the evolution of aggressive behaviours that help males compete against their rivals, but which may harm females and hamper their fitness. Kin selection theory predicts that optimal male-male competition levels can be reduced when competitors are more genetically related to each other than to the population average, contributing to resolve this sexual conflict. Work in Drosophila melanogaster has spearheaded empirical tests of this idea, but studies so far have been conducted in lab-adapted populations in homogeneous rearing environments that may hamper kin recognition, and used highly skewed sex ratios that may fail to reflect average natural conditions. Here, we performed a fully factorial design with the aim of exploring how rearing environment (i.e. familiarity) and relatedness affect male-male aggression, male harassment, and overall male harm levels in a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster, under more natural conditions. Namely, we: a) manipulated relatedness and familiarity so that larvae reared apart were raised in different environments, as is common in the wild, and b) studied the effects of relatedness and familiarity under average levels of male-male competition in the field. We show that, contrary to previous findings, groups of unrelated-unfamiliar males were as likely to fight with each other and harass females than related-familiar males, and that overall levels of male harm to females were similar across treatments. Our results suggest that the role of kin selection in modulating sexual conflict is yet unclear in Drosophila melanogaster, and call for further studies that focus on natural populations and realistic socio-sexual and ecological environments.

scholarly journals Inbreeding Ancestors: The Role of Sibmating in the Social Evolution of Gall Thrips

2006 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. McLeish ◽  
T. W. Chapman ◽  
B. J. Crespi
Keyword(s):  
Social Evolution ◽  
The Social

How do histone modifications contribute to transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in C. elegans?

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 1019-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel M. Woodhouse ◽  
Alyson Ashe
Keyword(s):  
Histone Modifications ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Epigenetic Inheritance ◽  
Nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Histone Methyltransferases ◽  
Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Gene Regulatory

Gene regulatory information can be inherited between generations in a phenomenon termed transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (TEI). While examples of TEI in many animals accumulate, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has proven particularly useful in investigating the underlying molecular mechanisms of this phenomenon. In C. elegans and other animals, the modification of histone proteins has emerged as a potential carrier and effector of transgenerational epigenetic information. In this review, we explore the contribution of histone modifications to TEI in C. elegans. We describe the role of repressive histone marks, histone methyltransferases, and associated chromatin factors in heritable gene silencing, and discuss recent developments and unanswered questions in how these factors integrate with other known TEI mechanisms. We also review the transgenerational effects of the manipulation of histone modifications on germline health and longevity.

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