---
_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.
    <i>Nature Ecology and Evolution</i>. 2023;7:450-460. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6">10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6</a>
  apa: Stock, M., Milutinovic, B., Hönigsberger, M., Grasse, A. V., Wiesenhofer, F.,
    Kampleitner, N., … Cremer, S. (2023). Pathogen evasion of social immunity. <i>Nature
    Ecology and Evolution</i>. Springer Nature. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6</a>
  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.” <i>Nature Ecology and
    Evolution</i>. Springer Nature, 2023. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6</a>.
  ieee: M. Stock <i>et al.</i>, “Pathogen evasion of social immunity,” <i>Nature Ecology
    and Evolution</i>, 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.” <i>Nature Ecology
    and Evolution</i>, vol. 7, Springer Nature, 2023, pp. 450–60, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6">10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6</a>.
  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
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  success: 1
file_date_updated: 2023-08-16T11:54:59Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '         7'
isi: 1
language:
- iso: eng
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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'
...