SUBTERRANEAN TERMITE MOVEMENTS and RELATIONSHIPS OVER TIME: GENETIC CHARACTERIZATION of a FIELD SITE

Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to examine the relatedness of Reticulitermes flavipes subterranean termites using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and simple sequence repeat (SSR) DNA fingerprints and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence from individual termites collected at four separate feeding sites on four different dates over six months. Data analyses demonstrated that, among all collections, gene flow was high (Nm>>1), DNA identity was > 94%, populations were skewed toward homozygotes (Fis > 0, Fit > 0) and there was a natural history of continued gene flow across all collections. Mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis resulted in three haplotypes or maternal lineages, M1, M2, and M3, which were disproportionately represented in the data set. We developed a model to explain our composite genetic data and discussed it and our findings in light of the hypothesis thatReticulitermes flavipes form polygnous colonies structured according to maternal kin-biased groups.