image: Infected ants attached to flowers by their mandibles. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Andrew Hurly (University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Canada).
In a study of the parasitic lancet fluke Dicrocoelium dendriticum, which can manipulate its ant host to facilitate transmission to a mammalian host, researchers tested genetic relatedness between flukes in ant brains and flukes in the ants' abdomens and found that brain flukes are often genetically identical to abdominal flukes, and that clonemates are cotransmitted into ants, indicating a role for kin selection in the evolution of an altruistic, host-manipulating behavior, according to the authors.
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Article #19-22272: "Clonemate cotransmission supports a role for kin selection in a puppeteer parasite," by Charles D. Criscione, Bradley J. van Paridon, John S. Gilleard, and Cameron P. Goater.
MEDIA CONTACT: Charles D. Criscione, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX; tel: 979-845-0917, 979-224-1240; email: <ccriscione@bio.tamu.edu>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences