In most ant, bee and wasp species (haplodiploid systems), the queen (mother) rep

Question

In most ant, bee and wasp species (haplodiploid systems), the queen (mother) reproduces with more than 1 male. So how does this affect the relatedness between 2 daughters of a multi-mated queen? Calculate below the relatedness between full and half sisters in a system where the queen mates with 2 males and one-half of her fertilized eggs are fertilized by each male.

To calculate the relatedness between the focal ant and her full sister or half sister, you need to add the relatedness through all the paths between the 2 sisters. Show your work!

            r between focal ant and full sister =

            r between focal ant and half sister =

            average relatedness of daughters in the colony =

Explanation / Answer

Relatedness = propmother x sharedmother + propfather x shared father

A mother share her genes with daughters = 1/2 of her genes to each daughter = 0.5

A father share genes with daughters = 100% ( he gets only 50% of genes from his mother and none from father, where as the other 50% of mothers genes are shared with a daughter)

r between focal ant and full sister = 0.5 x 0.5 + 0.5 x 1 = 0.75

In case of half sister, father share genes with each daughter = 50% of her mother genes = 0.25

r between focal ant and half sister = 0.5 x 0.25 + 0.5 x 0.25 = 0.25

average relatedness of daughters in the colony = square root of 0.75 x 0.25 = 0.43

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