Abstract
Sociality is associated with many benefits that have favoured its evolution in social insects. However, sociability also presents disadvantages like crowding of large numbers of individuals, which may favour the spread of infections within colonies. Adaptations allowing social insects to prevent and/or control pathogen infections range from behavioural responses to physiological ones including their immune systems. In a state of infection, social interactions with nestmates should be altered in a way which might prevent its spreading. We simulated a microbial infection in workers of the ant Camponotus fellah by the administration of peptidoglycan (PGN) and then quantified their immune response and social interactions. PGN injections as well as control injections of Ringer solution elicited similar production of antibacterial compounds, during 1-4 days after. However, injections of PGN reduced the ability of encapsulation of a nylon implant compared to Ringer controls. The immune challenged workers did not decrease the level of interactions with their nestmates. On the contrary, they devoted more time to trophallaxis. These results are discussed in relation to ant life history traits.
References
Jan 1, 1980·Developmental and Comparative Immunology·L A RheinsA Butz
Jan 1, 1980·Annual Review of Microbiology·D E Stewart-Tull
Jan 1, 1997·Annual Review of Entomology·J P GillespieT Trenczek
Feb 7, 1998·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·B LemaitreJ A Hoffmann
Jul 6, 2000·Animal Behaviour·R BoulayA Lenoir
Nov 10, 2000·Science·Y Moret, P Schmid-Hempel
Dec 15, 2000·Immunity·P TzouJ L Imler
Dec 12, 2003·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Eamonn B MallonPaul Schmid-Hempel
Dec 12, 2003·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Yannick Moret, Michael T Siva-Jothy
Oct 20, 2004·Journal of Invertebrate Pathology·P Korner, P Schmid-Hempel
May 1, 1997·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·E BonabeauS Camazine
May 1, 1996·Journal of Chemical Ecology·R R Do NascimentoD J Stradling
Citations
Apr 24, 2009·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Lumi ViljakainenPekka Pamilo
Jul 2, 2010·Biology Letters·Casey HamiltonRebeca B Rosengaus
Apr 18, 2012·PLoS Biology·Matthias KonradSylvia Cremer
Oct 27, 2010·PloS One·Gilberto Santos AndradeRicardo Antonio Polanczyk
Jan 26, 2016·Journal of Basic Microbiology·Rômulo Augusto Cotta DângeloTerezinha Maria Castro Della Lucia
Nov 30, 2011·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·N BosP d'Ettorre
Oct 16, 2015·Scientific Reports·Long LiuQiuying Huang
Dec 5, 2012·Brain, Behavior, and Immunity·Danival José de SouzaTerezinha Maria Castro Della Lucia
May 29, 2016·Journal of Invertebrate Pathology·Hua-Long QiuYu-Rong He
Nov 23, 2017·PloS One·Manuela Oliveira RamalhoCorrie Saux Moreau
Feb 2, 2018·Journal of Insect Behavior·Krzysztof MilerEwa J Godzińska
Feb 24, 2018·PloS One·Emilia Solá GraciaDavid P Hughes
Jun 16, 2018·Journal of Insect Science·M Guadalupe RojasJuan A Morales-Ramos
Feb 9, 2021·Neotropical Entomology·Lailla C GandraTerezinha M C Della Lucia
Feb 25, 2021·PloS One·Sandra Milena Valencia-GiraldoJames Montoya-Lerma
Jul 14, 2021·Behavioural Processes·Ariel Ahronberg, Inon Scharf
Nov 18, 2021·Neotropical Entomology·Tarcísio Marcos Macedo Mota FilhoLuiz Carlos Forti