---
_id: '12543'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: Treating sick group members is a hallmark of collective disease defence in
vertebrates and invertebrates alike. Despite substantial effects on pathogen fitness
and epidemiology, it is still largely unknown how pathogens react to the selection
pressure imposed by care intervention. Using social insects and pathogenic fungi,
we here performed a serial passage experiment in the presence or absence of colony
members, which provide social immunity by grooming off infectious spores from
exposed individuals. We found specific effects on pathogen diversity, virulence
and transmission. Under selection of social immunity, pathogens invested into
higher spore production, but spores were less virulent. Notably, they also elicited
a lower grooming response in colony members, compared with spores from the individual
host selection lines. Chemical spore analysis suggested that the spores from social
selection lines escaped the caregivers’ detection by containing lower levels of
ergosterol, a key fungal membrane component. Experimental application of chemically
pure ergosterol indeed induced sanitary grooming, supporting its role as a microbe-associated
cue triggering host social immunity against fungal pathogens. By reducing this
detection cue, pathogens were able to evade the otherwise very effective collective
disease defences of their social hosts.
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: LifeSc
acknowledgement: We thank B. M. Steinwender, N. V. Meyling and J. Eilenberg for the
fungal strains; J. Anaya-Rojas for statistical advice; the Social Immunity team
at ISTA for ant collection and experimental help, in particular H. Leitner, and
the ISTA Lab Support Facility for general laboratory support; D. Ebert, H. Schulenburg
and J. Heinze for continued project discussion; and M. Sixt, R. Roemhild and the
Social Immunity team for comments on the manuscript. The study was funded by the
German Research Foundation (CR118/3-1) within the Framework of the Priority Program
SPP 1399, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon
2020 Research and Innovation Programme (No. 771402; EPIDEMICSonCHIP), both to S.C.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Miriam
full_name: Stock, Miriam
id: 42462816-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Stock
- first_name: Barbara
full_name: Milutinovic, Barbara
id: 2CDC32B8-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Milutinovic
orcid: 0000-0002-8214-4758
- first_name: Michaela
full_name: Hönigsberger, Michaela
id: 953894f3-25bd-11ec-8556-f70a9d38ef60
last_name: Hönigsberger
- first_name: Anna V
full_name: Grasse, Anna V
id: 406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Grasse
- first_name: Florian
full_name: Wiesenhofer, Florian
id: 39523C54-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Wiesenhofer
- first_name: Niklas
full_name: Kampleitner, Niklas
id: 2AC57FAC-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Kampleitner
- first_name: Madhumitha
full_name: Narasimhan, Madhumitha
id: 44BF24D0-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Narasimhan
orcid: 0000-0002-8600-0671
- first_name: Thomas
full_name: Schmitt, Thomas
last_name: Schmitt
- first_name: Sylvia
full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
citation:
ama: Stock M, Milutinovic B, Hönigsberger M, et al. Pathogen evasion of social immunity.
Nature Ecology and Evolution. 2023;7:450-460. doi:10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6
apa: Stock, M., Milutinovic, B., Hönigsberger, M., Grasse, A. V., Wiesenhofer, F.,
Kampleitner, N., … Cremer, S. (2023). Pathogen evasion of social immunity. Nature
Ecology and Evolution. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6
chicago: Stock, Miriam, Barbara Milutinovic, Michaela Hönigsberger, Anna V Grasse,
Florian Wiesenhofer, Niklas Kampleitner, Madhumitha Narasimhan, Thomas Schmitt,
and Sylvia Cremer. “Pathogen Evasion of Social Immunity.” Nature Ecology and
Evolution. Springer Nature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6.
ieee: M. Stock et al., “Pathogen evasion of social immunity,” Nature Ecology
and Evolution, vol. 7. Springer Nature, pp. 450–460, 2023.
ista: Stock M, Milutinovic B, Hönigsberger M, Grasse AV, Wiesenhofer F, Kampleitner
N, Narasimhan M, Schmitt T, Cremer S. 2023. Pathogen evasion of social immunity.
Nature Ecology and Evolution. 7, 450–460.
mla: Stock, Miriam, et al. “Pathogen Evasion of Social Immunity.” Nature Ecology
and Evolution, vol. 7, Springer Nature, 2023, pp. 450–60, doi:10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6.
short: M. Stock, B. Milutinovic, M. Hönigsberger, A.V. Grasse, F. Wiesenhofer, N.
Kampleitner, M. Narasimhan, T. Schmitt, S. Cremer, Nature Ecology and Evolution
7 (2023) 450–460.
date_created: 2023-02-12T23:00:59Z
date_published: 2023-03-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2023-08-16T11:55:48Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: SyCr
- _id: LifeSc
- _id: JiFr
doi: 10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
isi:
- '000924572800001'
pmid:
- '36732670'
file:
- access_level: open_access
checksum: 8244f4650a0e7aeea488d1bcd4a31702
content_type: application/pdf
creator: dernst
date_created: 2023-08-16T11:54:59Z
date_updated: 2023-08-16T11:54:59Z
file_id: '14069'
file_name: 2023_NatureEcoEvo_Stock.pdf
file_size: 1600499
relation: main_file
success: 1
file_date_updated: 2023-08-16T11:54:59Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 7'
isi: 1
language:
- iso: eng
month: '03'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 450-460
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: 2649B4DE-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '771402'
name: Epidemics in ant societies on a chip
- _id: 25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
grant_number: CR-118/3-1
name: Host-Parasite Coevolution
publication: Nature Ecology and Evolution
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 2397-334X
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
link:
- description: News on ISTA website
relation: press_release
url: https://ista.ac.at/en/news/how-sneaky-germs-hide-from-ants/
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Pathogen evasion of social immunity
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: 7
year: '2023'
...
---
_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'
...