Kinship and the evolution of altruism in social amoebae and A model for the evolution of kin-limited interactions

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dc.contributor.advisorStrassmann, Joan E.en_US
dc.creatorGilbert, Owen Michaelen_US
dc.date.accessioned2012-07-03T22:49:52Zen_US
dc.date.available2012-07-03T22:49:52Zen_US
dc.date.created2010-12en_US
dc.date.issued2011en_US
dc.description.abstractFor decades, social amoebae have served as a model supporting broader theories of social behavior. Owing to their peculiar aggregative life cycle, it has seemed reasonable altruism in social amoebae is possible because of adaptive mechanisms of kin discrimination, and kin discrimination evolves to maintain this altruistic behavior. Nonetheless, these hypotheses have not withstood critical tests in social amoebae or other organisms. As a result, general theories of social evolution have rested on a few abstract theoretical assumptions. I here use social amoebae as a model system to examine these assumptions through empirical study. First, I focus on the natural context of social evolution in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. I establish D. discoideum occurs frequently in a state of clonality during the social stage and that obligate cheaters (non-altruists) are not present in nature (Chapter 1). I then show that kin discrimination in D. discoideum has only a weak effect on genetic relatedness in the social stage (Chapter 2). Upon this finding, I propose a hypothesis that kin recognition evolves in response to facultative rather than obligate cheating (Chapter 2). I generalize this argument in Chapter 3, where I propose a new "selfish genome" model of kin recognition. This model is unique in that it accounts for the effects of genome-wide relatedness between individuals on one another's fitness. This model explains the adaptive basis of kin recognition-a trait thought to be crucial for major evolutionary transitions. I also describe two additional studies of social amoebae. In the first, I report on the finding of a large clonal patch of a social amoebae. This is the first example of such a phenomenon in a microorganisms (Chapter 4). In the second, compare two forms of migration and development in social amoebae (Chapter 5). This study shows social amoebae can be studied in a similar way to animals, with a focus on the multicellular phenotype. I argue the production of stalk during migration is an example of altruistic behavior.en_US
dc.format.extent203 ppen_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS ECOL. 2011 GILBERTen_US
dc.identifier.citationGilbert, Owen Michael. "Kinship and the evolution of altruism in social amoebae and A model for the evolution of kin-limited interactions." (2011) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/64440">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/64440</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.digitalGilbertOen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/64440en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectEcologyen_US
dc.subjectEvolution & developmenten_US
dc.titleKinship and the evolution of altruism in social amoebae and A model for the evolution of kin-limited interactionsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentEcology and Evolutionary Biologyen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineNatural Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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