Paternal effects on Apis mellifera capensis worker ovary size

Abstract

The kinship theory of genomic imprinting argues that conflicting reproductive interests between males and females can lead to epigenetic modifications to the genome, altering gene expression in offspring in a parent-of-origin specific manner. The phenomenon is well documented in mammals and angiosperms, while the evidence for imprinting in social insects is steadily increasing. Workers of the South African honey bee, Apis mellifera capensis (Capensis) produce fatherless female offspring via thelytokous parthenogenesis, whereas queens produce female eggs sexually. We examined differences in reproductive phenotype between thelytokously and sexually derived Capensis workers. Workers with a father had significantly more ovarioles than fatherless workers, suggesting that males may imprint genes to enhance the reproductive success of their worker offspring.