Early queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces long-term disease protection in incipient ant colonies.

Autor: Casillas-Pérez B; IST Austria (Institute of Science and Technology Austria), Klosterneuburg, Austria., Pull CD; IST Austria (Institute of Science and Technology Austria), Klosterneuburg, Austria., Naiser F; Department of Cybernetics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic., Naderlinger E; IST Austria (Institute of Science and Technology Austria), Klosterneuburg, Austria., Matas J; Department of Cybernetics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic., Cremer S; IST Austria (Institute of Science and Technology Austria), Klosterneuburg, Austria.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Ecology letters [Ecol Lett] 2022 Jan; Vol. 25 (1), pp. 89-100. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Nov 01.
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13907
Abstrakt: Infections early in life can have enduring effects on an organism's development and immunity. In this study, we show that this equally applies to developing 'superorganisms'--incipient social insect colonies. When we exposed newly mated Lasius niger ant queens to a low pathogen dose, their colonies grew more slowly than controls before winter, but reached similar sizes afterwards. Independent of exposure, queen hibernation survival improved when the ratio of pupae to workers was small. Queens that reared fewer pupae before worker emergence exhibited lower pathogen levels, indicating that high brood rearing efforts interfere with the ability of the queen's immune system to suppress pathogen proliferation. Early-life queen pathogen exposure also improved the immunocompetence of her worker offspring, as demonstrated by challenging the workers to the same pathogen a year later. Transgenerational transfer of the queen's pathogen experience to her workforce can hence durably reduce the disease susceptibility of the whole superorganism.
(© 2021 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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