Social context-dependent immune gene expression in bumblebees (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombus terrestris</Emphasis>) |
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Authors: | Jeanny?Richter Sophie?Helbing Silvio?Erler Email author" target="_blank">H?Michael?G?LattorffEmail author |
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Institution: | 1.Institut für Biologie, Molekulare ?kologie,Martin-Luther-Universit?t Halle-Wittenberg,Halle (Saale),Germany |
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Abstract: | Social insects are prone to attack by parasites as they provide numerous resources of food and brood, homeostatic nest conditions
and a high density of individuals, enhancing the transmission of parasites. The defence of social insects might occur at different
levels, the individual and the group. Individual defence occurs in part via the innate immune system resulting in the expression
of antimicrobial substances. Group level defences, summarised as ‘social immunity’, represent a suite of behavioural and organisational
features. Here, all effects contributing to social immunity except for the social context were removed from bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) workers, kept either in groups or solitarily. The gene expression of six effector molecules of the immune system was monitored
in both groups and in controls from the same source colonies. The social treatment has a highly significant effect on immune
gene expression, with groups exhibiting higher levels of two antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and two lysozymes. Phenoloxidase
is affected at the regulatory level, with a strong upregulation of its suppressor Spn27A in groups suggesting a trade-off
with antimicrobial activity. AMPs are strongly upregulated in groups, whereas lysozymes are strongly downregulated in solitary
treatments suggesting another trade-off. Clearly, social immunity impacts elements of individual immunity. |
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