Pathogen-specific social immunity is associated with erosion of individual immune function in an ant

作者：Florent Masson, R Brown, Joel Vizueta, Thea Irvine, Zijun Xiong, Jonathan Romiguier, Nathalie Stroeymeyt · 发表于：Nature Communications · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1038/s41467-024-53527-4 · 被引用次数：16 · 研究领域：Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior、Insect and Pesticide Research、Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences

Contagious diseases are a major threat to societies in which individuals live in close contact. Social insects have evolved collective defense behaviors, such as social care or isolation of infected workers, that prevent outbreaks of pathogens. It has thus been suggested that individual immunity is reduced in species with such 'social immunity'. However, this hypothesis has not been tested functionally. Here, we characterize the immune response of the ant Lasius niger using a combination of genomic analysis, experimental infections, gene expression quantification, behavioural observations and pathogen quantifications. We uncover a striking specialization of immune responses towards different pathogens. Systemic individual immunity is effective against opportunistic bacterial infections, which are not covered by social immunity, but is not elicited upon fungal infections, which are effectively controlled by social immunity. This specialization suggests that immune layers have evolved complementary functions predicted to ensure the most cost-effective response against a wide range of pathogens.