--- _id: '616' abstract: - lang: eng text: Social insects protect their colonies from infectious disease through collective defences that result in social immunity. In ants, workers first try to prevent infection of colony members. Here, we show that if this fails and a pathogen establishes an infection, ants employ an efficient multicomponent behaviour − "destructive disinfection" − to prevent further spread of disease through the colony. Ants specifically target infected pupae during the pathogen's non-contagious incubation period, relying on chemical 'sickness cues' emitted by pupae. They then remove the pupal cocoon, perforate its cuticle and administer antimicrobial poison, which enters the body and prevents pathogen replication from the inside out. Like the immune system of a body that specifically targets and eliminates infected cells, this social immunity measure sacrifices infected brood to stop the pathogen completing its lifecycle, thus protecting the rest of the colony. Hence, the same principles of disease defence apply at different levels of biological organisation. article_number: e32073 article_processing_charge: Yes author: - first_name: Christopher full_name: Pull, Christopher id: 3C7F4840-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Pull orcid: 0000-0003-1122-3982 - first_name: Line V full_name: Ugelvig, Line V id: 3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Ugelvig orcid: 0000-0003-1832-8883 - first_name: Florian full_name: Wiesenhofer, Florian id: 39523C54-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Wiesenhofer - first_name: Anna V full_name: Grasse, Anna V id: 406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Grasse - first_name: Simon full_name: Tragust, Simon id: 35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Tragust - first_name: Thomas full_name: Schmitt, Thomas last_name: Schmitt - first_name: Mark full_name: Brown, Mark last_name: Brown - first_name: Sylvia full_name: Cremer, Sylvia id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Cremer orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868 citation: ama: Pull C, Ugelvig LV, Wiesenhofer F, et al. Destructive disinfection of infected brood prevents systemic disease spread in ant colonies. eLife. 2018;7. doi:10.7554/eLife.32073 apa: Pull, C., Ugelvig, L. V., Wiesenhofer, F., Grasse, A. V., Tragust, S., Schmitt, T., … Cremer, S. (2018). Destructive disinfection of infected brood prevents systemic disease spread in ant colonies. ELife. eLife Sciences Publications. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32073 chicago: Pull, Christopher, Line V Ugelvig, Florian Wiesenhofer, Anna V Grasse, Simon Tragust, Thomas Schmitt, Mark Brown, and Sylvia Cremer. “Destructive Disinfection of Infected Brood Prevents Systemic Disease Spread in Ant Colonies.” ELife. eLife Sciences Publications, 2018. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32073. ieee: C. Pull et al., “Destructive disinfection of infected brood prevents systemic disease spread in ant colonies,” eLife, vol. 7. eLife Sciences Publications, 2018. ista: Pull C, Ugelvig LV, Wiesenhofer F, Grasse AV, Tragust S, Schmitt T, Brown M, Cremer S. 2018. Destructive disinfection of infected brood prevents systemic disease spread in ant colonies. eLife. 7, e32073. mla: Pull, Christopher, et al. “Destructive Disinfection of Infected Brood Prevents Systemic Disease Spread in Ant Colonies.” ELife, vol. 7, e32073, eLife Sciences Publications, 2018, doi:10.7554/eLife.32073. short: C. Pull, L.V. Ugelvig, F. Wiesenhofer, A.V. Grasse, S. Tragust, T. Schmitt, M. Brown, S. Cremer, ELife 7 (2018). date_created: 2018-12-11T11:47:31Z date_published: 2018-01-09T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2023-09-11T12:54:26Z day: '09' ddc: - '570' - '590' department: - _id: SyCr doi: 10.7554/eLife.32073 ec_funded: 1 external_id: isi: - '000419601300001' file: - access_level: open_access checksum: 540f941e8d3530a9441e4affd94f07d7 content_type: application/pdf creator: system date_created: 2018-12-12T10:10:43Z date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:47:20Z file_id: '4832' file_name: IST-2018-978-v1+1_elife-32073-v1.pdf file_size: 1435585 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:47:20Z has_accepted_license: '1' intvolume: ' 7' isi: 1 language: - iso: eng month: '01' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version project: - _id: 25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: FP7 grant_number: '243071' name: 'Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects' - _id: 25DDF0F0-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: FP7 grant_number: '302004' name: 'Pathogen Detectors Collective disease defence and pathogen detection abilities in ant societies: a chemo-neuro-immunological approach' publication: eLife publication_status: published publisher: eLife Sciences Publications publist_id: '7188' pubrep_id: '978' quality_controlled: '1' related_material: record: - id: '819' relation: dissertation_contains status: public scopus_import: '1' status: public title: Destructive disinfection of infected brood prevents systemic disease spread in ant colonies tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: journal_article user_id: c635000d-4b10-11ee-a964-aac5a93f6ac1 volume: 7 year: '2018' ... --- _id: '1993' abstract: - lang: eng text: 'The fitness effects of symbionts on their hosts can be context-dependent, with usually benign symbionts causing detrimental effects when their hosts are stressed, or typically parasitic symbionts providing protection towards their hosts (e.g. against pathogen infection). Here, we studied the novel association between the invasive garden ant Lasius neglectus and its fungal ectosymbiont Laboulbenia formicarum for potential costs and benefits. We tested ants with different Laboulbenia levels for their survival and immunity under resource limitation and exposure to the obligate killing entomopathogen Metarhizium brunneum. While survival of L. neglectus workers under starvation was significantly decreased with increasing Laboulbenia levels, host survival under Metarhizium exposure increased with higher levels of the ectosymbiont, suggesting a symbiont-mediated anti-pathogen protection, which seems to be driven mechanistically by both improved sanitary behaviours and an upregulated immune system. Ants with high Laboulbenia levels showed significantly longer self-grooming and elevated expression of immune genes relevant for wound repair and antifungal responses (β-1,3-glucan binding protein, Prophenoloxidase), compared with ants carrying low Laboulbenia levels. This suggests that the ectosymbiont Laboulbenia formicarum weakens its ant host by either direct resource exploitation or the costs of an upregulated behavioural and immunological response, which, however, provides a prophylactic protection upon later exposure to pathogens. ' acknowledged_ssus: - _id: EM-Fac acknowledgement: "Funding was obtained by the German Research Foundation (CR 118–2) and an ERC StG (243071) by the European Research Council (both to S.C.).\r\nWe thank Line V. Ugelvig for help with ant collection and statistical discussion, Xavier Espadaler for detailed information on the ant collection site, Birgit Lautenschläger for the electron microscopy images and Eva Sixt for ant drawings. We further thank Jørgen Eilenberg for the fungal strain, Meghan L. Vyleta for genetic strain characterization and immune gene primer development, Paul Schmid-Hempel for discussion, and Line V. Ugelvig, Xavier Espadaler and Christopher D. Pull for comments on the manuscript. S.C., M.K. and S.T. conceived the study; M.K. and A.V.G. performed the experiments; M.K. performed the statistical analysis; S.C. and M.K. wrote the manuscript with intense contributions of A.V.G. and S.T.; all authors approved the manuscript." article_number: '20141976' article_processing_charge: No article_type: original author: - first_name: Matthias full_name: Konrad, Matthias id: 46528076-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Konrad - first_name: Anna V full_name: Grasse, Anna V id: 406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Grasse - first_name: Simon full_name: Tragust, Simon id: 35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Tragust - first_name: Sylvia full_name: Cremer, Sylvia id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Cremer orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868 citation: ama: Konrad M, Grasse AV, Tragust S, Cremer S. Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences. 2015;282(1799). doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.1976 apa: Konrad, M., Grasse, A. V., Tragust, S., & Cremer, S. (2015). Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences. The Royal Society. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1976 chicago: Konrad, Matthias, Anna V Grasse, Simon Tragust, and Sylvia Cremer. “Anti-Pathogen Protection versus Survival Costs Mediated by an Ectosymbiont in an Ant Host.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences. The Royal Society, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1976. ieee: M. Konrad, A. V. Grasse, S. Tragust, and S. Cremer, “Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences, vol. 282, no. 1799. The Royal Society, 2015. ista: Konrad M, Grasse AV, Tragust S, Cremer S. 2015. Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences. 282(1799), 20141976. mla: Konrad, Matthias, et al. “Anti-Pathogen Protection versus Survival Costs Mediated by an Ectosymbiont in an Ant Host.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences, vol. 282, no. 1799, 20141976, The Royal Society, 2015, doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.1976. short: M. Konrad, A.V. Grasse, S. Tragust, S. Cremer, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences 282 (2015). date_created: 2018-12-11T11:55:06Z date_published: 2015-01-22T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2023-02-23T14:06:41Z day: '22' department: - _id: SyCr doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.1976 ec_funded: 1 external_id: pmid: - '25473011' intvolume: ' 282' issue: '1799' language: - iso: eng main_file_link: - open_access: '1' url: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286035/ month: '01' oa: 1 oa_version: Submitted Version pmid: 1 project: - _id: 25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: FP7 grant_number: '243071' name: 'Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects' - _id: 25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 grant_number: CR-118/3-1 name: Host-Parasite Coevolution publication: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences publication_identifier: eissn: - 1471-2954 issn: - 0962-8452 publication_status: published publisher: The Royal Society publist_id: '5090' quality_controlled: '1' related_material: record: - id: '9740' relation: research_data status: public scopus_import: '1' status: public title: Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host type: journal_article user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 volume: 282 year: '2015' ... --- _id: '9740' abstract: - lang: eng text: The fitness effects of symbionts on their hosts can be context-dependent, with usually benign symbionts causing detrimental effects when their hosts are stressed, or typically parasitic symbionts providing protection towards their hosts (e.g. against pathogen infection). Here, we studied the novel association between the invasive garden ant Lasius neglectus and its fungal ectosymbiont Laboulbenia formicarum for potential costs and benefits. We tested ants with different Laboulbenia levels for their survival and immunity under resource limitation and exposure to the obligate killing entomopathogen Metarhizium brunneum. While survival of L. neglectus workers under starvation was significantly decreased with increasing Laboulbenia levels, host survival under Metarhizium exposure increased with higher levels of the ectosymbiont, suggesting a symbiont-mediated anti-pathogen protection, which seems to be driven mechanistically by both improved sanitary behaviours and an upregulated immune system. Ants with high Laboulbenia levels showed significantly longer self-grooming and elevated expression of immune genes relevant for wound repair and antifungal responses (β-1,3-glucan binding protein, Prophenoloxidase), compared with ants carrying low Laboulbenia levels. This suggests that the ectosymbiont Laboulbenia formicarum weakens its ant host by either direct resource exploitation or the costs of an upregulated behavioural and immunological response, which, however, provides a prophylactic protection upon later exposure to pathogens. article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Matthias full_name: Konrad, Matthias id: 46528076-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Konrad - first_name: Anna V full_name: Grasse, Anna V id: 406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Grasse - first_name: Simon full_name: Tragust, Simon id: 35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Tragust - first_name: Sylvia full_name: Cremer, Sylvia id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Cremer orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868 citation: ama: 'Konrad M, Grasse AV, Tragust S, Cremer S. Data from: Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host. 2014. doi:10.5061/dryad.vm0vc' apa: 'Konrad, M., Grasse, A. V., Tragust, S., & Cremer, S. (2014). Data from: Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vm0vc' chicago: 'Konrad, Matthias, Anna V Grasse, Simon Tragust, and Sylvia Cremer. “Data from: Anti-Pathogen Protection versus Survival Costs Mediated by an Ectosymbiont in an Ant Host.” Dryad, 2014. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vm0vc.' ieee: 'M. Konrad, A. V. Grasse, S. Tragust, and S. Cremer, “Data from: Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host.” Dryad, 2014.' ista: 'Konrad M, Grasse AV, Tragust S, Cremer S. 2014. Data from: Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host, Dryad, 10.5061/dryad.vm0vc.' mla: 'Konrad, Matthias, et al. Data from: Anti-Pathogen Protection versus Survival Costs Mediated by an Ectosymbiont in an Ant Host. Dryad, 2014, doi:10.5061/dryad.vm0vc.' short: M. Konrad, A.V. Grasse, S. Tragust, S. Cremer, (2014). date_created: 2021-07-28T08:38:40Z date_published: 2014-11-13T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2023-02-23T10:23:32Z day: '13' department: - _id: SyCr doi: 10.5061/dryad.vm0vc main_file_link: - open_access: '1' url: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vm0vc month: '11' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version publisher: Dryad related_material: record: - id: '1993' relation: used_in_publication status: public status: public title: 'Data from: Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host' type: research_data_reference user_id: 6785fbc1-c503-11eb-8a32-93094b40e1cf year: '2014' ... --- _id: '9753' abstract: - lang: eng text: 'Background: The brood of ants and other social insects is highly susceptible to pathogens, particularly those that penetrate the soft larval and pupal cuticle. We here test whether the presence of a pupal cocoon, which occurs in some ant species but not in others, affects the sanitary brood care and fungal infection patterns after exposure to the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum. We use a) a comparative approach analysing four species with either naked or cocooned pupae and b) a within-species analysis of a single ant species, in which both pupal types co-exist in the same colony. Results: We found that the presence of a cocoon did not compromise fungal pathogen detection by the ants and that species with cocooned pupae increased brood grooming after pathogen exposure. All tested ant species further removed brood from their nests, which was predominantly expressed towards larvae and naked pupae treated with the live fungal pathogen. In contrast, cocooned pupae exposed to live fungus were not removed at higher rates than cocooned pupae exposed to dead fungus or a sham control. Consistent with this, exposure to the live fungus caused high numbers of infections and fungal outgrowth in larvae and naked pupae, but not in cocooned pupae. Moreover, the ants consistently removed the brood prior to fungal outgrowth, ensuring a clean brood chamber. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the pupal cocoon has a protective effect against fungal infection, causing an adaptive change in sanitary behaviours by the ants. It further demonstrates that brood removal - originally described for honeybees as “hygienic behaviour” – is a widespread sanitary behaviour in ants, which likely has important implications on disease dynamics in social insect colonies.' article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Simon full_name: Tragust, Simon id: 35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Tragust - first_name: Line V full_name: Ugelvig, Line V id: 3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Ugelvig orcid: 0000-0003-1832-8883 - first_name: Michel full_name: Chapuisat, Michel last_name: Chapuisat - first_name: Jürgen full_name: Heinze, Jürgen last_name: Heinze - first_name: Sylvia full_name: Cremer, Sylvia id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Cremer orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868 citation: ama: 'Tragust S, Ugelvig LV, Chapuisat M, Heinze J, Cremer S. Data from: Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies. 2014. doi:10.5061/dryad.nc0gc' apa: 'Tragust, S., Ugelvig, L. V., Chapuisat, M., Heinze, J., & Cremer, S. (2014). Data from: Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.nc0gc' chicago: 'Tragust, Simon, Line V Ugelvig, Michel Chapuisat, Jürgen Heinze, and Sylvia Cremer. “Data from: Pupal Cocoons Affect Sanitary Brood Care and Limit Fungal Infections in Ant Colonies.” Dryad, 2014. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.nc0gc.' ieee: 'S. Tragust, L. V. Ugelvig, M. Chapuisat, J. Heinze, and S. Cremer, “Data from: Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies.” Dryad, 2014.' ista: 'Tragust S, Ugelvig LV, Chapuisat M, Heinze J, Cremer S. 2014. Data from: Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies, Dryad, 10.5061/dryad.nc0gc.' mla: 'Tragust, Simon, et al. Data from: Pupal Cocoons Affect Sanitary Brood Care and Limit Fungal Infections in Ant Colonies. Dryad, 2014, doi:10.5061/dryad.nc0gc.' short: S. Tragust, L.V. Ugelvig, M. Chapuisat, J. Heinze, S. Cremer, (2014). date_created: 2021-07-30T08:24:11Z date_published: 2014-10-08T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2023-02-23T10:36:17Z day: '08' department: - _id: SyCr doi: 10.5061/dryad.nc0gc main_file_link: - open_access: '1' url: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.nc0gc month: '10' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version publisher: Dryad related_material: record: - id: '2284' relation: used_in_publication status: public status: public title: 'Data from: Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies' type: research_data_reference user_id: 6785fbc1-c503-11eb-8a32-93094b40e1cf year: '2014' ... --- _id: '2926' abstract: - lang: eng text: To fight infectious diseases, host immune defenses are employed at multiple levels. Sanitary behavior, such as pathogen avoidance and removal, acts as a first line of defense to prevent infection [1] before activation of the physiological immune system. Insect societies have evolved a wide range of collective hygiene measures and intensive health care toward pathogen-exposed group members [2]. One of the most common behaviors is allogrooming, in which nestmates remove infectious particles from the body surfaces of exposed individuals [3]. Here we show that, in invasive garden ants, grooming of fungus-exposed brood is effective beyond the sheer mechanical removal of fungal conidiospores; it also includes chemical disinfection through the application of poison produced by the ants themselves. Formic acid is the main active component of the poison. It inhibits fungal growth of conidiospores remaining on the brood surface after grooming and also those collected in the mouth of the grooming ant. This dual function is achieved by uptake of the poison droplet into the mouth through acidopore self-grooming and subsequent application onto the infectious brood via brood grooming. This extraordinary behavior extends the current understanding of grooming and the establishment of social immunity in insect societies. acknowledgement: "Funding for this project was obtained by the German Research Foundation (DFG, to S.C.) and the European Research Council (ERC, through an ERC-Starting Grant to S.C. and an Individual Marie Curie IEF fellowship to L.V.U.).\r\nWe thank Jørgen Eilenberg, Bernhardt Steinwender, Miriam Stock, and Meghan L. Vyleta for the fungal strain and its characterization; Volker Witte for chemical information; Eva Sixt for ant drawings; and Robert Hauschild for help with image analysis. We further thank Martin Kaltenpoth, Michael Sixt, Jürgen Heinze, and Joachim Ruther for discussion and Daria Siekhaus, Sophie A.O. Armitage, and Leila Masri for comments on the manuscript. \r\n" author: - first_name: Simon full_name: Tragust, Simon id: 35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Tragust - first_name: Barbara full_name: Mitteregger, Barbara id: 479DDAAC-E9CD-11E9-9B5F-82450873F7A1 last_name: Mitteregger - first_name: Vanessa full_name: Barone, Vanessa id: 419EECCC-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Barone orcid: 0000-0003-2676-3367 - first_name: Matthias full_name: Konrad, Matthias id: 46528076-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Konrad - first_name: Line V full_name: Ugelvig, Line V id: 3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Ugelvig orcid: 0000-0003-1832-8883 - first_name: Sylvia full_name: Cremer, Sylvia id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Cremer orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868 citation: ama: Tragust S, Mitteregger B, Barone V, Konrad M, Ugelvig LV, Cremer S. Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison. Current Biology. 2013;23(1):76-82. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034 apa: Tragust, S., Mitteregger, B., Barone, V., Konrad, M., Ugelvig, L. V., & Cremer, S. (2013). Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison. Current Biology. Cell Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034 chicago: Tragust, Simon, Barbara Mitteregger, Vanessa Barone, Matthias Konrad, Line V Ugelvig, and Sylvia Cremer. “Ants Disinfect Fungus-Exposed Brood by Oral Uptake and Spread of Their Poison.” Current Biology. Cell Press, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034. ieee: S. Tragust, B. Mitteregger, V. Barone, M. Konrad, L. V. Ugelvig, and S. Cremer, “Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison,” Current Biology, vol. 23, no. 1. Cell Press, pp. 76–82, 2013. ista: Tragust S, Mitteregger B, Barone V, Konrad M, Ugelvig LV, Cremer S. 2013. Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison. Current Biology. 23(1), 76–82. mla: Tragust, Simon, et al. “Ants Disinfect Fungus-Exposed Brood by Oral Uptake and Spread of Their Poison.” Current Biology, vol. 23, no. 1, Cell Press, 2013, pp. 76–82, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034. short: S. Tragust, B. Mitteregger, V. Barone, M. Konrad, L.V. Ugelvig, S. Cremer, Current Biology 23 (2013) 76–82. date_created: 2018-12-11T12:00:23Z date_published: 2013-01-07T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2023-09-07T12:05:08Z day: '07' department: - _id: SyCr - _id: CaHe doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034 ec_funded: 1 intvolume: ' 23' issue: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '01' oa_version: None page: 76 - 82 project: - _id: 25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 grant_number: CR-118/3-1 name: Host-Parasite Coevolution - _id: 25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: FP7 grant_number: '243071' name: 'Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects' - _id: 25DDF0F0-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: FP7 grant_number: '302004' name: 'Pathogen Detectors Collective disease defence and pathogen detection abilities in ant societies: a chemo-neuro-immunological approach' publication: Current Biology publication_status: published publisher: Cell Press publist_id: '3811' quality_controlled: '1' related_material: record: - id: '9757' relation: research_data status: public - id: '961' relation: dissertation_contains status: public scopus_import: 1 status: public title: Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison type: journal_article user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 volume: 23 year: '2013' ... --- _id: '2284' abstract: - lang: eng text: 'Background: The brood of ants and other social insects is highly susceptible to pathogens, particularly those that penetrate the soft larval and pupal cuticle. We here test whether the presence of a pupal cocoon, which occurs in some ant species but not in others, affects the sanitary brood care and fungal infection patterns after exposure to the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum. We use a) a comparative approach analysing four species with either naked or cocooned pupae and b) a within-species analysis of a single ant species, in which both pupal types co-exist in the same colony. Results: We found that the presence of a cocoon did not compromise fungal pathogen detection by the ants and that species with cocooned pupae increased brood grooming after pathogen exposure. All tested ant species further removed brood from their nests, which was predominantly expressed towards larvae and naked pupae treated with the live fungal pathogen. In contrast, cocooned pupae exposed to live fungus were not removed at higher rates than cocooned pupae exposed to dead fungus or a sham control. Consistent with this, exposure to the live fungus caused high numbers of infections and fungal outgrowth in larvae and naked pupae, but not in cocooned pupae. Moreover, the ants consistently removed the brood prior to fungal outgrowth, ensuring a clean brood chamber. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the pupal cocoon has a protective effect against fungal infection, causing an adaptive change in sanitary behaviours by the ants. It further demonstrates that brood removal-originally described for honeybees as "hygienic behaviour"-is a widespread sanitary behaviour in ants, which likely has important implications on disease dynamics in social insect colonies.' acknowledgement: "The study was funded by the European Research Council (Marie Curie ERG 036569) and Marie Curie IEF 302204 to LVU\r\nCC BY 2.0\r\n" article_number: '225' author: - first_name: Simon full_name: Tragust, Simon id: 35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Tragust - first_name: Line V full_name: Ugelvig, Line V id: 3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Ugelvig orcid: 0000-0003-1832-8883 - first_name: Michel full_name: Chapuisat, Michel last_name: Chapuisat - first_name: Jürgen full_name: Heinze, Jürgen last_name: Heinze - first_name: Sylvia full_name: Cremer, Sylvia id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Cremer orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868 citation: ama: Tragust S, Ugelvig LV, Chapuisat M, Heinze J, Cremer S. Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 2013;13(1). doi:10.1186/1471-2148-13-225 apa: Tragust, S., Ugelvig, L. V., Chapuisat, M., Heinze, J., & Cremer, S. (2013). Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies. BMC Evolutionary Biology. BioMed Central. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-225 chicago: Tragust, Simon, Line V Ugelvig, Michel Chapuisat, Jürgen Heinze, and Sylvia Cremer. “Pupal Cocoons Affect Sanitary Brood Care and Limit Fungal Infections in Ant Colonies.” BMC Evolutionary Biology. BioMed Central, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-225. ieee: S. Tragust, L. V. Ugelvig, M. Chapuisat, J. Heinze, and S. Cremer, “Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies,” BMC Evolutionary Biology, vol. 13, no. 1. BioMed Central, 2013. ista: Tragust S, Ugelvig LV, Chapuisat M, Heinze J, Cremer S. 2013. Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 13(1), 225. mla: Tragust, Simon, et al. “Pupal Cocoons Affect Sanitary Brood Care and Limit Fungal Infections in Ant Colonies.” BMC Evolutionary Biology, vol. 13, no. 1, 225, BioMed Central, 2013, doi:10.1186/1471-2148-13-225. short: S. Tragust, L.V. Ugelvig, M. Chapuisat, J. Heinze, S. Cremer, BMC Evolutionary Biology 13 (2013). date_created: 2018-12-11T11:56:46Z date_published: 2013-10-14T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2023-02-23T14:07:06Z day: '14' ddc: - '570' department: - _id: SyCr doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-225 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: c16ef36f2a10786a7885e19c4528d707 content_type: application/pdf creator: system date_created: 2018-12-12T10:13:41Z date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:45:37Z file_id: '5026' file_name: IST-2016-402-v1+1_1471-2148-13-225.pdf file_size: 281736 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:45:37Z has_accepted_license: '1' intvolume: ' 13' issue: '1' language: - iso: eng month: '10' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version project: - _id: 25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: FP7 grant_number: '243071' name: 'Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects' - _id: 25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 grant_number: CR-118/3-1 name: Host-Parasite Coevolution publication: BMC Evolutionary Biology publication_status: published publisher: BioMed Central publist_id: '4647' pubrep_id: '402' quality_controlled: '1' related_material: record: - id: '9753' relation: research_data status: public scopus_import: 1 status: public title: Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: journal_article user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 volume: 13 year: '2013' ... --- _id: '3242' abstract: - lang: eng text: Due to the omnipresent risk of epidemics, insect societies have evolved sophisticated disease defences at the individual and colony level. An intriguing yet little understood phenomenon is that social contact to pathogen-exposed individuals reduces susceptibility of previously naive nestmates to this pathogen. We tested whether such social immunisation in Lasius ants against the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae is based on active upregulation of the immune system of nestmates following contact to an infectious individual or passive protection via transfer of immune effectors among group members—that is, active versus passive immunisation. We found no evidence for involvement of passive immunisation via transfer of antimicrobials among colony members. Instead, intensive allogrooming behaviour between naive and pathogen-exposed ants before fungal conidia firmly attached to their cuticle suggested passage of the pathogen from the exposed individuals to their nestmates. By tracing fluorescence-labelled conidia we indeed detected frequent pathogen transfer to the nestmates, where they caused low-level infections as revealed by growth of small numbers of fungal colony forming units from their dissected body content. These infections rarely led to death, but instead promoted an enhanced ability to inhibit fungal growth and an active upregulation of immune genes involved in antifungal defences (defensin and prophenoloxidase, PPO). Contrarily, there was no upregulation of the gene cathepsin L, which is associated with antibacterial and antiviral defences, and we found no increased antibacterial activity of nestmates of fungus-exposed ants. This indicates that social immunisation after fungal exposure is specific, similar to recent findings for individual-level immune priming in invertebrates. Epidemiological modeling further suggests that active social immunisation is adaptive, as it leads to faster elimination of the disease and lower death rates than passive immunisation. Interestingly, humans have also utilised the protective effect of low-level infections to fight smallpox by intentional transfer of low pathogen doses (“variolation” or “inoculation”). acknowledgement: Funding for this project was obtained by the German Research Foundation DFG (http://www.dfg.de/en/index.jsp) as an Individual Research Grant (CR118/2-1 to SC) and the European Research Council (http://erc.europa.eu/) in form of two ERC Starting Grants (ERC-2009-StG240371-SocialVaccines to SC and ERC-2010-StG259294-LatentCauses to FJT). In addition, the Junge Akademie (Young Academy of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (http://www.diejungeakademie.de/english/i​ndex.html) funded this joint Antnet project of SC and FJT. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. article_number: e1001300 author: - first_name: Matthias full_name: Konrad, Matthias id: 46528076-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Konrad - first_name: Meghan full_name: Vyleta, Meghan id: 418901AA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Vyleta - first_name: Fabian full_name: Theis, Fabian last_name: Theis - first_name: Miriam full_name: Stock, Miriam id: 42462816-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Stock - first_name: Simon full_name: Tragust, Simon id: 35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Tragust - first_name: Martina full_name: Klatt, Martina id: E60F29C6-E9AE-11E9-AF6E-D190C7302F38 last_name: Klatt - first_name: Verena full_name: Drescher, Verena last_name: Drescher - first_name: Carsten full_name: Marr, Carsten last_name: Marr - first_name: Line V full_name: Ugelvig, Line V id: 3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Ugelvig orcid: 0000-0003-1832-8883 - first_name: Sylvia full_name: Cremer, Sylvia id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Cremer orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868 citation: ama: Konrad M, Vyleta M, Theis F, et al. Social transfer of pathogenic fungus promotes active immunisation in ant colonies. PLoS Biology. 2012;10(4). doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300 apa: Konrad, M., Vyleta, M., Theis, F., Stock, M., Tragust, S., Klatt, M., … Cremer, S. (2012). Social transfer of pathogenic fungus promotes active immunisation in ant colonies. PLoS Biology. Public Library of Science. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300 chicago: Konrad, Matthias, Meghan Vyleta, Fabian Theis, Miriam Stock, Simon Tragust, Martina Klatt, Verena Drescher, Carsten Marr, Line V Ugelvig, and Sylvia Cremer. “Social Transfer of Pathogenic Fungus Promotes Active Immunisation in Ant Colonies.” PLoS Biology. Public Library of Science, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300. ieee: M. Konrad et al., “Social transfer of pathogenic fungus promotes active immunisation in ant colonies,” PLoS Biology, vol. 10, no. 4. Public Library of Science, 2012. ista: Konrad M, Vyleta M, Theis F, Stock M, Tragust S, Klatt M, Drescher V, Marr C, Ugelvig LV, Cremer S. 2012. Social transfer of pathogenic fungus promotes active immunisation in ant colonies. PLoS Biology. 10(4), e1001300. mla: Konrad, Matthias, et al. “Social Transfer of Pathogenic Fungus Promotes Active Immunisation in Ant Colonies.” PLoS Biology, vol. 10, no. 4, e1001300, Public Library of Science, 2012, doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300. short: M. Konrad, M. Vyleta, F. Theis, M. Stock, S. Tragust, M. Klatt, V. Drescher, C. Marr, L.V. Ugelvig, S. Cremer, PLoS Biology 10 (2012). date_created: 2018-12-11T12:02:13Z date_published: 2012-04-03T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2023-02-23T14:07:11Z day: '03' ddc: - '570' - '579' department: - _id: SyCr doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300 ec_funded: 1 file: - access_level: open_access checksum: 4ebacefd9fbab5c68adf829124115fd1 content_type: application/pdf creator: system date_created: 2018-12-12T10:08:28Z date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:46:04Z file_id: '4689' file_name: IST-2012-96-v1+1_journal.pbio.1001300.pdf file_size: 674228 relation: main_file file_date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:46:04Z has_accepted_license: '1' intvolume: ' 10' issue: '4' language: - iso: eng month: '04' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version project: - _id: 25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 grant_number: CR-118/3-1 name: Host-Parasite Coevolution - _id: 25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 call_identifier: FP7 grant_number: '243071' name: 'Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects' - _id: 25E0E184-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425 name: Antnet publication: PLoS Biology publication_status: published publisher: Public Library of Science publist_id: '3434' pubrep_id: '96' quality_controlled: '1' related_material: record: - id: '9755' relation: research_data status: public scopus_import: 1 status: public title: Social transfer of pathogenic fungus promotes active immunisation in ant colonies tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: journal_article user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 volume: 10 year: '2012' ... --- _id: '9757' abstract: - lang: eng text: To fight infectious diseases, host immune defences are employed at multiple levels. Sanitary behaviour, such as pathogen avoidance and removal, acts as a first line of defence to prevent infection [1] before activation of the physiological immune system. Insect societies have evolved a wide range of collective hygiene measures and intensive health care towards pathogen-exposed group members [2]. One of the most common behaviours is allogrooming, in which nestmates remove infectious particles from the body surfaces of exposed individuals [3]. Here we show that, in invasive garden ants, grooming of fungus-exposed brood is effective beyond the sheer mechanical removal of fungal conidiospores as it also includes chemical disinfection through the application of poison produced by the ants themselves. Formic acid is the main active component of the poison. It inhibits fungal growth of conidiospores remaining on the brood surface after grooming and also those collected in the mouth of the grooming ant. This dual function is achieved by uptake of the poison droplet into the mouth through acidopore self-grooming and subsequent application onto the infectious brood via brood grooming. This extraordinary behaviour extends current understanding of grooming and the establishment of social immunity in insect societies. article_processing_charge: No author: - first_name: Simon full_name: Tragust, Simon id: 35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Tragust - first_name: Barbara full_name: Mitteregger, Barbara id: 479DDAAC-E9CD-11E9-9B5F-82450873F7A1 last_name: Mitteregger - first_name: Vanessa full_name: Barone, Vanessa id: 419EECCC-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Barone orcid: 0000-0003-2676-3367 - first_name: Matthias full_name: Konrad, Matthias id: 46528076-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Konrad - first_name: Line V full_name: Ugelvig, Line V id: 3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Ugelvig orcid: 0000-0003-1832-8883 - first_name: Sylvia full_name: Cremer, Sylvia id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 last_name: Cremer orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868 citation: ama: 'Tragust S, Mitteregger B, Barone V, Konrad M, Ugelvig LV, Cremer S. Data from: Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison. 2012. doi:10.5061/dryad.61649' apa: 'Tragust, S., Mitteregger, B., Barone, V., Konrad, M., Ugelvig, L. V., & Cremer, S. (2012). Data from: Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.61649' chicago: 'Tragust, Simon, Barbara Mitteregger, Vanessa Barone, Matthias Konrad, Line V Ugelvig, and Sylvia Cremer. “Data from: Ants Disinfect Fungus-Exposed Brood by Oral Uptake and Spread of Their Poison.” Dryad, 2012. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.61649.' ieee: 'S. Tragust, B. Mitteregger, V. Barone, M. Konrad, L. V. Ugelvig, and S. Cremer, “Data from: Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison.” Dryad, 2012.' ista: 'Tragust S, Mitteregger B, Barone V, Konrad M, Ugelvig LV, Cremer S. 2012. Data from: Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison, Dryad, 10.5061/dryad.61649.' mla: 'Tragust, Simon, et al. Data from: Ants Disinfect Fungus-Exposed Brood by Oral Uptake and Spread of Their Poison. Dryad, 2012, doi:10.5061/dryad.61649.' short: S. Tragust, B. Mitteregger, V. Barone, M. Konrad, L.V. Ugelvig, S. Cremer, (2012). date_created: 2021-07-30T12:31:31Z date_published: 2012-12-14T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2023-02-23T11:04:28Z day: '14' department: - _id: SyCr doi: 10.5061/dryad.61649 main_file_link: - open_access: '1' url: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.61649 month: '12' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version publisher: Dryad related_material: record: - id: '2926' relation: used_in_publication status: public status: public title: 'Data from: Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison' type: research_data_reference user_id: 6785fbc1-c503-11eb-8a32-93094b40e1cf year: '2012' ...